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.    .    LIBRARY    .    . 

Connecticut 
Agricultural  College. 


VOL.- 
CLASS    NO. 
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BOOK    917.42.T33  1    c.  1 

TAXTER    #    AMONG    ISLES    OF    SHOALS 


3  T153  00E1D23T  B 


university  of 
Connecticut 


SMritiufffl!  of  CcUa  ^Uvttv 

POEMS.     Appled'jre  Edition. 

STORIES  AND  POEMS  FOR  CHILDREN.  With 
frontispiece.     Also  in  Riverside  School  Library. 

AMONG  THE   ISLES  OF  SHOALS.  Illustrated. 

AN    ISLAND   GARDEN. 

LETTERS    OF    CELIA   THAXTER.     With  three 
portraits. 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 
Boston  and  New  York 


iiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiijiii! 


im 


III  J 


^*'^1i'\l!i' 


Among  the  Isles  of  Shoals. 

By  CELIA   THAXTER. 

S2Eitlj  Ellustrations. 


\A\c- 


'Only  to  hear  and  see  the  far-off  sparkling  brine." 

TENm'SON. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN  COMPANY 


"Pas! 


COPYRIGHT,  1873,  BY  JAMES  R.   OSGOOD   &   COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT,  1901,  BY   ROLAND  THAXTER 

COPYRIGHT,  I915,  BY   ROLAND  THAXTER  AND  JOHN  THAXTER 

AX.L   RIGHTS  RESERVED 


/  t  7  0  4. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

♦ 

White   Island,    looking    Southwest    from 

ApPLEDOEE Frontispiece, 

Trai-  Dike,  Appledore Page    18 

White  Island "    120 

View   from    the    Southeastern    Point    of 

Appledore "    180 


T  is  with  reluctance  that  I  suffer  these 
fragmentary  and  inadequate  sketches  of 
the  Isles  of  Shoals  to  appear  in  book 
form.  Except  that  some  account  of  the  place, 
however  slight,  is  so  incessantly  called  for  bj* 
people  who  throng  these  islands  in  summer,  1 
should  hardly  venture  to  offer  to  the  public  so 
imperfect  a  chronicle,  of  which  the  most  that 
can  be  said  is,  that  it  is,  perhaps,  better  than 
nothing. 


AMONG  THE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS. 


N  a  series  of  papers  published  not  many 
years  ago,  Herman  Melville  made  the 
world  acquainted  with  the  "Encanta- 
das,"  or  Enchanted  Islands,  which  he  describes  as 
lying  directly  under  the  equator,  off  the  coast  of 
South  America,  and  of  which  he  says :  "It  is  to 
be  doubted  whether  any  spot  of  earth  can,  in  des- 
olateness,  furnish  a  parallel  to  this  group."  But 
their  dark  volcanic  crags  and  melancholy  beaches 
can  hardly  seem  more  desolate  than  do  the  low 
bleached  rocks  of  the  Isles  of  Shoals  to  eyes  that 
behold  them  for  the  first  time.  Very  sad  they 
look,  stem,  bleak,  and  unpromising,  yet  are  they 
enchanted  islands  in  a  better  sense  of  the  word 
than  are  the  great  Gallipagos  of  which  Mr.  Mel- 
ville discourses  so  delightfully. 

There  is  a  strange  charm  about  them,  an  inde- 


8  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

scribable  influence  in  their  atmosphere,  hardly  to  be 
explained,  but  universally  acknowledged.  People 
forget  the  hurry  and  worry  and  fret  of  life  after 
living  there  awhile,  and,  to  an  imaginative  mind, 
all  things  become  dreamy  as  they  were  to  the 
lotus-eaters,  to  whom 

"  The  gushing  of  the  wave 
Far,  far  away  did  seem  to  mourn  and  rave 
On  alien  shores." 

The  eternal  sound  of  the  sea  on  every  side  has 
a  tendency  to  wear  away  the  edge  of  human 
thought  and  perception;  sharp  outlines  become 
blurred  and  softened  like  a  sketch  in  charcoal; 
nothing  appeals  to  the  mind  with  the  same  dis- 
tinctness as  on  the  mainland,  amid  the  rush  and 
stir  of  people  and  things,  and  the  excitements  of 
social  life.  This  was  strikingly  illustrated  during 
the  late  war,  which,  while  it  wrung  the  heart  of 
the  whole  country,  and  stirred  the  blood  of  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  on  the  continent,  left  the 
handful  of  human  beings  upon  these  lonely  rocks 
almost  untouched.  The  echoes  of  woe  and  terror 
were  so  faint  and  far  they  seemed  to  lose  their 
significance  among  the  many-voiced  waters  they 
crossed,  and  reached  at  last  the  indifferent  ears  they 
Bought  with  no  more  force  than  a  spent  wave. 

Nine  miles  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  intervene  be- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  9 

tween  these  islands  and  the  nearest  point  of  the 
coast  of  New  Hampshire ;  but  from  this  nearest 
point  the  coast-line  recedes  gradually,  in  dim  and 
dimmer  distance,  to  Cape  Ann,  in  Massachusetts, 
twenty-one  miles  away  at  the  southwest,  and  to 
Cape  Neddock,  in  Maine,  sixteen  miles  distant  in 
the  northeast  (in  clear  weather  another  cape  is 
faintly  distinguishable  beyond  this),  and  about  one 
third  of  the  great  horizon  is  filled  by  this  beau- 
tiful, undulating  line  of  land,  which,  under  the 
touch  of  atmospheric  change,  is  almost  as  plastic 
as  the  clouds,  and  wears  a  new  aspect  with  every 
turn  of  wind  and  weather. 

Sailing  out  from  Portsmouth  Harbor  with  a  fair 
wind  from  the  northwest,  the  Isles  of  Shoals  lie 
straight  before  you,  nine  miles  away,  —  ill-defined 
and  cloudy  shapes,  faintly  discernible  in  the  dis- 
tance. A  word  about  the  origin  of  this  name, 
*'  Isles  of  Shoals."  They  are  supposed  to  have 
been  so  called,  not  because  the  ragged  reefs  run 
out  beneath  the  water  in  all  directions,  ready  to 
wreck  and  destroy,  but  because  of  the  "  shoaling," 
or  "schooling,"  of  fish  about  them,  which,  in  the 
mackerel  and  herring  seasons,  is  remarkable.  As 
you  approach  they  separate,  and  show  each  its  own 
peculiar  characteristics,  and  you  perceive  that 
there  are  six  islands  if  the  tide  is  low ;  but  if  it  ia 


10  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

high,  there  are  eight,  and  would  be  nine,  but  that 
a  breakwater  connects  two  of  them.  Appledore, 
called  for  many  years  Hog  Island,  from  its  rude 
resemblance  to  a  hog's  back  rising  from  the  water, 
when  seen  from  out  at  sea,  is  the  largest  and  most 
regular  in  shape.  From  afar^  it  looks  smoothly 
rounded,  like  a  gradually  sloping  elevation,  the 
greatest  height  of  which  is  only  seventy-five  feet 
above  high-water  mark.  A  little  valley  in  which 
are  situated  the  buildings  belonging  to  the  house 
of  entertainment,  which  is  the  only  habitation, 
divides  its  four  hundred  acres  into  two  unequal 
portions.  Next,  almost  within  a  stone's  throw,  is 
Haley's  Island,  or  "Smutty-nose,"  so  christened 
by  passing  sailors,  with  a  grim,  sense  of  humor, 
from  a  long  black  point  of  rock  stretching  out  to 
the  southeast,  upon  which  many  a  ship  has  laid 
her  bones.  This  island  is  low  and  flat,  and  con- 
tains a  greater  depth  of  soil  than  the  others.  At 
low  tide.  Cedar  and  Malaga  are  both  connected 
with  it,  —  the  latter  permanently  by  a  breakwater, 
—  the  whole  comprising  about  one  hundred  acres. 
Star  Island  contains  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres, 
and  lies  a  quarter  of  a  mile  southwest  of  Smutty- 
nose.  Toward  its  northern  end  are  clustered  the 
houses  of  the  little  village  of  Gosport,  with  a  tiny 
church  crowning  the  highest  rock.     Not  quite  9 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  \\ 

mile  southwest  from  Star,  White  Island  lifts  a 
lighthouse  for  a  warning.  This  is  the  most  pic- 
turesque of  the  group,  and  forms,  with  Seavey's 
Island,  at  low  water,  a  double  island,  with  an  area 
of  some  twenty  acres.  Most  westerly  lies  Lon- 
doner's, an  irregular  rock  with  a  bit  of  beach,  upon 
which  all  the  shells  about  the  cluster  seem  to  be 
thrown.  Two  miles  northeast  from  Appledore, 
Duck  Island  thrusts  out  its  lurking  ledges  on  all 
sides  beneath  the  water,  one  of  them  running  half 
a  mile  to  the  northwest.  This  is  the  most  dan- 
gerous of  the  islands,  and,  being  the  most  remote, 
is  the  only  one  visited  to  any  great  degree  by  the 
shy  sea-fowl  that  are  nearly  banished  by  civiliza- 
tion. Yet  even  now,  at  low  tide,  those  long  black 
ledges  are  often  whitened  by  the  dazzling  plumage 
of  gulls  whose  exquisite  and  stainless  purity  rivals 
the  new-fallen  snow.  The  ledges  run  toward  the 
west  and  north ;  but  at  the  east  and  south  the 
shore  is  bolder,  and  Shag  and  Mingo  Rocks,  where, 
during  or  after  storms,  the  sea  breaks  with  mag- 
nificent effect,  lie  isolated  by  a  narrow  channel 
from  the  main  granite  fragment.  A  very  round 
rock  west  of  Londoner's,  perversely  called  "Square," 
and  Anderson's  Rock,  off  the  southeast  end  of 
Smutty-nose,  complete  the  catalogue. 

Smutty-nose  and  Appledore  are  almost  united 


12  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS, 

by  a  reef,  bare  at  low  tide,  thougb  a  large  vessel 
can  pass  between  them  even  then.  Off  the  land- 
ing at  White  Island  the  Devil's  Rock  rolls  an  in- 
cessant breaker,  and  makes  an  attempt  to  reach 
the  shore  perilous  in  any  but  the  serenest  weather. 
Between  Londoner's  and  Star  is  another,  hardly 
bare  at  low  tide;  a  perpetual  danger,  for  it  lies 
directly  in  the  path  of  most  of  the  sailing  vessels, 
and  many  a  schooner  has  been  "brought  up  all 
standing  "  by  this  unexpected  obstacle.  Another 
rock,  about  four  miles  east  of  Appledore,  rejoices 
in  the  significant  title  of  the  "  Old  Harry."  Old 
Harry  is  deeply  sunk  beneath  the  surface,  and 
never  betrays  himself  except  in  great  storms,  when 
an  awful  white  spray  rises  afar  off,  and  the  Shoal- 
ers  know  how  tremendous  are  the  breakers  that 
send  it  skyward. 

The  names  of  the  towns,  Appledore,  Gosport, 
and,  along  the  coast,  Portsmouth,  Newcastle,  Rye, 
Ipswich,  Portland,  Bangor,  Newbury,  Amesbury, 
Salisbury,  and  many  more,  are  all  borrowed  from 
towns  on,  or  not  far  from,  the  coasts  of  England 
and  Wales,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  maps  of  those 
countries.  Salisbury  Beach  fronts  our  islands. 
Amesbury  lies  farther  inland,  but  the  gentle  out- 
line of  Po  Hill,  in  that  town,  is  the  last  eminence 
of  any  importance  on  the  southern  end  of  the 
coast  line. 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  13 

The  dividing  line  between  Maine  and  New 
Hampshire  passes  through  the  group,  giving  Apple- 
dore,  Smutty-nose,  and  Duck  Islands  to  Maine,  and 
the  rest  to  New  Hampshire ;  but  their  allegiance  to 
either  is  a  matter  of  small  importance,  the  few 
inhabitants  troubling  themselves  but  little  about 
what  State  they  belong  to.  Till  within  a  few 
years  no  taxes  were  required  of  them,  and  they 
enjoyed  immunity  from  this  and  various  other 
earthly  ills  as  completely  as  the  gulls  and  loons 
that  shared  their  dwelling-place. 

Swept  by  every  wind  that  blows,  and  beaten 
by  the  bitter  brine  for  unknown  ages,  well  may 
the  Isles  of  Shoals  be  barren,  bleak,  and  bare.  At 
first  sight  nothing  can  be  more  rough  and  inhos- 
pitable than  they  appear.  The  incessant  influences 
of  wind  and  sun,  rain,  snow,  frost,  and  spray,  have 
so  bleached  the  tops  of  the  rocks,  that  they  look 
hoary  as  if  with  age,  though  in  the  summer-time 
a  gi'acious  greenness  of  vegetation  breaks  here  and 
there  the  stem  outlines,  and  softens  somewhat 
their  rugged  aspect.  Yet  so  forbidding  are  their 
shores,  it  seems  scarcely  worth  while  to  land  upon 
them, —  mere  heaps  of  tumbling  granite  in  the 
wide  and  lonely  sea, —  when  all  the  smiling,  "  sap- 
phire-spangled marriage-ring  of  the  land"  lies 
ready  to  woo  the  voyager  back  again,  and  welcome 


14  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

his  returning  prow  with  pleasant  sights  and  sounds 
and  scents  that  the  wild  wastes  of  water  never 
know.  But  to  the  human  creature  who  has  eyes 
that  will  see  and  ears  that  will  hear,  nature  ap- 
peals with  such  a  novel  charm,  that  the  luxurious 
beauty  of  the  land  is  half  forgotten  before  one  is 
aware.  Its  sweet  gardens,  full  of  color  and  per- 
fume, its  rich  woods  and  softly  swelling  hills,  its 
placid  waters,  and  fields  and  flowery  meadows,  are 
no  longer  dear  and  desirable ;  for  the  wonderful 
sound  of  the  sea  dulls  the  memory  of  all  past  im- 
pressions, and  seems  to  fulfil  and  satisfy  all  present 
needs.  Landing  for  the  first  time,  the  stranger  is 
struck  only  by  the  sadness  of  the  place, —  the  vast 
loneliness ;  for  there  are  not  even  trees  to  whisper 
with  familiar  voices,  —  nothing  but  sky  and  sea 
and  rocks.  But  the  very  wildness  and  desolation 
reveal  a  strange  beauty  to  him.  Let  him  wait  till 
evening  comes, 

<  "With  sunset  purple  soothing  all  the  waste," 

and  he  will  find  himself  slowly  succumbing  to  the 
subtile  charm  of  that  sea  atmosphere.  He  sleeps 
with  all  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic  murmuring  in 
his  ears,  and  wakes  to  the  freshness  of  a  summer 
morning  ;  and  it  seems  as  if  morning  were  made  for 
the  first  time.     For  the  world  is  like  a  new-blown 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  15 

rose,  and  in  the  heart  of  it  he  stands,  with  only 
the  caressing  music  of  the  water  to  break  the  utter 
silence,  unless,  perhaps,  a  song-sparrow  pours  out 
its  blissful  warble  like  an  embodied  joy.  The  sea 
is  rosy,  and  the  sky  ',  the  line  of  land  is  radiant ; 
the  scattered  sails  glow  with  the  delicious  color 
that  touches  so  tenderly  the  bare,  bleak  rocks. 
These  are  lovelier  than  sky  or  sea  or  distant  sails, 
or  graceful  gulls'  wings  reddened  with  the  dawn  ; 
nothing  takes  color  so  beautifully  as  the  bleached 
granite ;  the  shadows  are  delicate,  and  the  fine, 
hard  outlines  are  glorified  and  softened  beneath 
the  fresh  first  blush  of  sunrise.  All  things  are 
speckless  and  spotless  ;  there  is  no  dust,  no  noise, 
nothing  but  peace  in  the  sweet  air  and  on  the 
quiet  sea.  The  day  goes  on ;  the  rose  changes  to 
mellow  gold,  the  gold  to  clear,  white  daylight,  and 
the  sea  is  sparkling  again.  A  breeze  ripples  the 
surface,  and  wherever  it  touches  the  color  deepens. 
A  seine-boat  passes,  with  the  tawny  net  heaped  in 
the  stem,  and  the  scarlet  shirts  of  the  rowers  bril- 
liant against  the  blue.  Pleasantly  their  voices 
come  across  the  water,  breaking  the  stillness.  The 
fishing-boats  steal  to  and  fro,  silent,  with  glittering 
sails  ;  the  gulls  wheel  lazily ;  the  far-ofi*  coasters 
glide  rapidly  along  the  horizon  ;  the  mirage  steals 
down  the  coast-line,  and  seems  to  remove  it  leagues 


16  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

away.  And  what  if  it  were  to  slip  down  the 
slope  of  the  world  and  disappear  entirely  1  You 
think,  in  a  half-dream,  you  would  not  care.  ]\Iany 
troubles,  cares,  perplexities,  vexations,  lurk  behind 
that  far,  faint  line  for  you.  "Why  should  you  be 
bothered  any  more  1 

"  Let  us  alone.    Time  di'iveth  onward  fast, 
And  in  a  little  while  our  lips  are  dumb." 

And  so  the  waves,  with  their  lulling  murmur,  do 
their  work,  and  you  are  soothed  into  repose  and 
transient  forgetfulness. 

The  natives,  or  persons  who  have  been  brought 
up  here,  find  it  almost  as  difficult  to  tear  them- 
selves away  from  the  islands  as  do  the  Swiss  to 
leave  their  mountains.  From  a  civilized  race's 
point  of  view,  this  is  a  curious  instance  of  human 
perversity,  since  it  is  not  good  for  men  to  live  their 
whole  lives  through  in  such  remote  and  solitary 
places.  Nobody  hears  of  people  dying  of  home- 
sickness for  New  York,  or  Albany,  or  Maine,  or 
California,  or  any  place  on  the  broad  continent ; 
but  to  wild  and  lonely  spots  like  these  isles  hu- 
manity clings  with  an  intense  and  abiding  aifection. 
No  other  place  is  able  to  furnish  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Shoals  with  sufficient  air  for  their  capacious 
lungs;    there  is  never  scope   enough   elsewhere^ 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  17 

there  is  no  horizon ;  they  must  have  sea-room. 
On  shore  it  is  to  them  as  if  all  the  trees  and  houses 
crowded  against  the  windows  to  suffocation  ;  and  I 
know  a  youth  who,  when  at  the  age  of  thirteen  he 
made  his  first  visit  to  the  mainland,  descended  to 
the  cellar  of  the  house  in  which  he  found  himself, 
in  the  not  over-populous  city  of  Portsmouth,  and 
spent  the  few  hours  of  his  stay  sitting  dejectedly 
upon  a  wood-pile,  in  mute  protest  against  the  con- 
dition of  things  in  general,  and  the  pressure  of 
human  society  in  particular. 

Each  island  has  its  peculiar  characteristics,  as  I 
said  before,  and  no  two  are  alike,  though  all  are  of 
the  same  coarse  granite,  mixed  with  masses  and 
seams  of  quartz  and  felspar  and  gneiss  and  mica- 
slate,  and  interspersed  with  dikes  of  trap  running 
in  all  directions.  Upon  Appledore,  for  the  most 
part,  the  trap  runs  from  north  to  south,  while 
the  veins  of  quartz  and  felspar  run  from  east  to 
west.  Sometimes  the  narrow  white  quartz  veins 
intersect  the  dark  trap,  in  parallel  lines,  now  wa- 
vering, and  now  perfectly  straight,  and  showing  a 
surface  like  that  of  some  vast  piece  of  inlaid  work. 
Each  island  presents  its  boldest  shore  to  the  east, 
to  breast  the  whole  force  of  the  great  Atlantic, 
which  every  year  assails  the  iron  cliffs  and  head- 
lands with  the  same  ponderous  fury,  yet   leaves 


18  AMONG   TRE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS, 

upon  them  so  little  trace  of  its  immense  power,  — 
though  at  White  Island,  on  the  top  of  a  precipi- 
tous rock  called  "  The  Head,"  which  is  nearly  fifty 
feet  high,  lies  a  bowlder  weighing  fifteen  tons, 
tossed  there  from  below  by  the  breakers.  The 
shores  are  seldom  very  bold,  but  on  the  east  they 
are  often  very  striking  with  their  rifts  and  chasms, 
and  roughly  piled  gorges,  and  square  quarries  of 
stone,  and  stairways  cut  as  if  by  human  hands. 
The  trap  rock,  softer  than  the  granite,  is  worn 
away  in  many  places,  leaving  bare  perpendicular 
walls  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high.  The  largest  trap 
dike  upon  Appledore  runs  across  the  island  from 
northeast  to  southwest,  disappears  in  the  sea,  and 
reappears  upon  Smutty-nose,  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
distant  in  a  straight  line.  In  some  places,  the  ge- 
ologist will  teU  you,  certain  deep  scratches  in  the 
solid  rock  mean  that  here  the  glacier  ground  its 
way  across  in  the  world's  earlier  ages.  Frequently 
the  trap  rock  is  honeycombed  in  a  curious  fashion, 
—  filled  with  small  holes  on  the  smface,  as  if  drops 
of  water  falling  for  years  in  the  same  spots  had 
worn  these  smooth  round  hollows.  This  always 
happens  close  to  the  water,  and  only  in  the  trap 
rock,  and  looks  as  if  it  might  be  the  result  of  the 
flying  spray  which,  in  winter  and  toward  spring, 
when  the  northwest  gales  blow  sometimes  for  three 


Trap  Dike,   Appledore. 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  19 

weeks  steadily  day  and  night,  beats  continually 
upon  the  shore. 

The  coast-line  varies,  of  course,  with  high  or 
low  tide.  At  low  water  the  shores  are  much  more 
forbidding  than  at  high  tide,  for  a  broad  band  of 
dark  sea-weed  girdles  each  island,  and  gives  a  sul- 
len aspect  to  the  whole  group.  But  in  calm  days, 
when  the  moon  is  full  and  the  tides  are  so  low 
that  it  sometimes  seems  as  if  the  sea  were  being 
drained  away  on  purpose  to  show  to  eager  eyes 
what  lies  beneath  the  lowest  ebb,  banks  of  golden- 
green  and  brown  moss  thickly  clustered  on  the 
moist  ledges  are  exposed,  and  the  water  is  cut 
by  the  ruffled  edges  of  the  kelps  that  grow  in 
brown  and  shining  forests  on  eveiy  side.  At  sun- 
rise or  sunset  the  effect  of  the  long  rays  slanting 
across  these  masses  of  rich  color  is  very  beautiful. 
But  at  high  tide  the  shores  are  most  charming; 
every  little  cove  and  inlet  is  filled  with  the  music 
of  the  waves,  and  their  life,  light,  color,  and  spar- 
kle. Who  shall  describe  that  wonderful  noise  of 
the  sea  among  the  rocks,  to  me  the  most  sug- 
gestive of  all  the  sounds  in  nature  1  Each  island, 
every  isolated  rock,  has  its  own  peculiar  rote,  and 
ears  made  delicate  by  listening,  in  great  and  fre- 
quent peril,  can  distinguish  the  bearings  of  each 
in  a  dense  fog.     The  threatening  speech  of  Duck 


20  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

Island's  ledges,  the  swing  of  the  wave  over  Half- 
way Rock,  the  touch  of  the  ripples  on  the  beach 
at  Londoner's,  the  long  and  lazy  breaker  that  is 
forever  rolling  below  the  lighthouse  at  White 
Island,  —  all  are  familiar  and  distinct,  and  indicate 
to  the  islander  his  w^hereabouts  almost  as  clearly 
as  if  the  sun  shone  brightly  and  no  shrouding 
mist  were  striving  to  mock  and  to  mislead  him. 

There  are  no  beaches  of  any  considerable  size 
along  the  circle  of  these  shores,  and  except  in  two 
narrow  fissures,  one  on  Malaga  and  one  on  Star, 
only  a  few  feet  wide  at  their  widest,  there  is  no 
fine,  clean  sand,  such  as  lies  sparkling  on  the  coast 
at  Rye,  opposite,  and  shows,  faintly  glimmering, 
white  in  the  far  distance.  The  dock  at  Smutty- 
nose  is  filled  with  coarse  sand  and  mud,  like  the 
little  basin  of  the  "  Upper  Cove  "  on  Appledore ; 
and  the  largest  beach  on  Star,  of  the  same  charac- 
ter, is  covered  with  a  stratum  of  fish-bones  several 
feet  deep,  —  by  no  means  a  pleasantly  fragrant 
pavement.  Roughly  rounded  pebbles,  not  beauti- 
ful with  warmth  of  color  like  those  on  the  Cohasset 
beaches,  but  a  cold,  hard  combination  of  gray  gran- 
ite and  dark  trap,  are  heaped  in  the  coves.  In- 
dian arrowheads  of  jasper  and  flint  have  been 
found  among  them.  Now  and  then  a  smoother 
bit  consists  of  a  coarse  gravel,  which,  if  you  ex- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  21 

amine,  you  will  find  to  be  principally  composed  of 
shells  ground  fine  by  the  waves,  a  fascinating  mix- 
ture of  blue  and  purple  mussels,  lined  with  the 
rainbow  tints  of  mother-of-pearl,  and  fragments  of 
golden  and  ruddy  snail-shells,  and  striped  and  col- 
ored cockles ;  with  here  and  there  a  piece  of  trans- 
parent  quartz,  white  or  rosy,  or  of  opaque  felspar, 
faintly  straw-colored,  or  of  dull-purple  porphyry 
stone,  all  clean  and  moist  with  the  odorous  brine. 
Upon  Appledore  and  the  little  islets  undevastated 
by  civilization  these  tiny  coves  are  the  most  de- 
lightful places  in  the  world,  lovely  with  their  fringe 
of  weeds,  thistles,  and  mullein-stalks  drawn  clearly 
against  the  sky  at  the  upper  edge  of  the  slope, 
and  below,  their  mosaic  of  stone  and  shell  and 
sea-wi'ack,  tangles  of  kelp  and  driftwood,  —  a  mass 
of  warm  neutral  tints,  —  with  brown,  green,  and 
crimson  mosses,  and  a  few  golden  snail-shells  lying 
on  the  many-tinted  gi'avel,  where  the  indolent 
ripples  lapse  in  delicious  murmurs.  There  are  few 
shells  more  delicate  than  the  variegated  snails  and 
cockles  and  stout  whelks  that  sparsely  strew  the 
beaches,  but  these  few  are  exceedingly  beautiful, 
and  more  precious  fi'om  their  rarity.  Two  kinds 
of  pure  white  spiral  shells,  not  quite  an  inch  long, 
are  occasionally  found,  and  cause  one  to  wonder 
how  they  can  be  rolled  together  with  the  heavy 
pebbles  by  the  breakers  and  not  be  annihilated. 


22  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

After  the  dark  blue  mussel-shells  have  lain  long 
on  shore  in  sun  and  rain,  they  take  a  curious  satin 
sheen,  lovely  to  behold,  and  the  larger  kind,  shed- 
ding their  coat  of  brown  varnish,  are  colored  like 
the  eastern  sky  in  clear  winter  sunsets,  a  rosy  pur- 
ple, with  pearly  linings  streaked  with  iridescent 
hues.    The  driftwood  is  always  full  of  suggestions  : 
—  a  broken  oar ;  a  bit  of  spar  with  a  ragged  end 
of  rope-yarn  attached;  a  section  of  a  mast  hur- 
riedly chopped,  telling  of  a  tragedy  too  well  known 
on  the  awful  sea;    a  water-worn  buoy,  or  flakes 
of  rich  brown  bark,  which  have  been  peacefully 
floated  down  the  rivers  of  Maine  and  out  on  the 
wide  sea,  to  land  at  last  here  and  gladden  firesides 
so  remote  from  the  deep  green  wood  where  they 
grew;  pine-cones,  with  their  spicy  fragTance  yet 
lingering  about  them ;  apples,  green  spruce  twigs, 
a  shingle,  with  some  carpenter's  half-obliterated 
calculations  pencilled  upon  it;  a  child's  roughly 
carved  boat;  drowned  butterflies,  beetles,  birds ; 
dead  boughs  of  ragged  fir-trees  completely  draped 
with  the  long,  shining  ribbon-grass  that  grows  in 
brackish  water  near  river  mouths.     The  last,  after 
lying  awhile  in  the  wind  and  sun,  present  a  weird 
appearance,  for  the  narrow  ribbons  are  dried  and 
bleached  as  white  as  chalk,  and  shiver  and  shud- 
der with  every  wind  that  blows.     It  used  to  be  a 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  23 

great  delight  to  hold  such  a  bough  aloft,  and  watch 
all  the  long,  delicate  pennons  and  streamers  fly 
trembling  out  on  the  breeze.  Beyond  high-water 
mark  all  things  in  the  course  of  time  take  a  uni- 
form gray  color  from  the  weather ;  wood,  shells, 
stones,  deposited  by  some  great  tide  or  storm,  and 
left  undisturbed  for  months,  chocolate-colored  bark 
and  yellow  shingle  and  gray  stone  are  not  to  be 
distinguished  one  from  another,  except  by  their 
shape.  Of  course  all  white  things  grow  whiter, 
and  shells  already  colorless  become  as  pure  as 
snow.  Sometimes  the  slabs  and  blocks  of  wood 
that  float  ashore  have  drifted  so  long  that  they  are 
water-logged,  and  covered  with  a  rich  growth  of 
mosses,  barnacles,  and  wondrous  sea-creatures. 
Sometimes  they  are  completely  riddled  by  the 
pholas,  and  the  hardest  shells  are  pierced  smoothly 
through  and  through  by  these  soft  worms. 

But  as  a  child  I  was  never  without  apprehen- 
sion when  examining  the  drift,  for  I  feared  to  find 
some  too  dreadful  token  of  disaster.  After  the 
steamer  Bohemian  was  wrecked  (ofi"  Halifax,  I 
think)  a  few  years  ago,  bales  of  her  costly  cargo 
of  silks  and  rich  stuff's  and  pieces  of  the  wreck 
were  strewn  along  the  coast  even  to  Cape  Ann; 
and  upon  Rye  Beach,  among  other  things,  two 
boots  came  on  shore.     They  were  not  mates,  and 


24  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

each  contained  a  human  foot.  That  must  have 
been  a  grewsome  discovery  to  him  who  picked  them 
up. 

There  are  not  many  of  these  quiet  coves.  In 
general  a  confusion  reigns  as  if  an  earthquake  had 
rent  and  split  the  coasts,  and  tumbled  the  masses 
in  chaotic  heaps.  On  Appledore  and  the  larger 
islands  the  interior  is  rather  smoother,  though  no- 
where will  you  find  many  rods  of  plain  walking. 
Slopes  of  greenness  alternate  with  the  long  white 
ledges,  and  here  and  there  are  bits  of  swampy 
ground  and  little  valleys  where  the  turf  is  short, 
and  the  sheep  love  to  browse,  and  the  mushrooms 
grow  in  August  and  September.  There  are  no 
trees  except,  perhaps,  a  few  balm-of-gilead  trees 
on  Star  and  a  small  elm  on  Appledore,  which  has 
been  struggling  with  the  bleakness  of  the  situation 
some  twenty  years.  It  is  very  probable  that  the 
islands  were  wooded  many  years  ago  with  spruce 
and  pine  perhaps, — a  rugged  gi^owth.  I  am  certain 
that  cedars  grew  there,  for  I  found  on  the  highest 
part  of  Smutty-nose  Point,  deep  down  in  a  crevice 
in  the  rocks,  apiece  of  a  root  of  cedar-wood,  which, 
though  perfectly  preserved,  bore  marks  of  gi-eat 
age,  being  worn  as  smooth  as  glass  with  the  rain- 
drops that  had  penetrated  to  its  hiding-place. 
There  are  a  few  bushes,   browsed  down  by  the 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  25 

sheep,  with  maple,  poplar,  and  birch  leaves;  and 
I  have  seen  the  crumbling  remains  of  the  stump 
of  some  large  tree  in  the  principal  gorge  or  valley 
at  Appledore.  The  oldest  inhabitants  remember 
quite  an  orchard  on  Smutty-nose.  In  the  follow- 
ing note  (for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  T.  B. 
Fox)  from  "  Christopher  Leavitt's  Voyage  into  New 
England  "  in  the  year  1623,  it  appears  that  there 
were  trees,  though  not  of  the  kind  the  voyagers 
wished  to  see.  He  says  :  "  The  first  place  I  set  my 
foot  upon  in  New  England  was  the  Isles  of 
Shoulds.  We  could  see  not  one  good  timber  tree, 
or  so  much  good  ground  as  to  make  a  garden. 
Good  fishing-place  for  six  ships,"  he  goes  on  to  say, 
"  not  more  for  want  of  good  storage  rooms.  Har- 
bor indifferent  good.  No  savages  at  all."  That 
was  two  hundred  and  forty-six  years  ago.  In  the 
Rev.  Jedediah  Morse's  journal  of  a  mission  to  the 
Shoals  in  August,  1800,  he  says,  referring  to  the 
wretched  state  of  the  inhabitants  of  Star  Island  at 
that  time,  "All  the  trees,  and  the  bushes  even, 
have  been  consumed,  and  they  have  cut  up,  dried, 
and  burned  many  acres  of  the  sward,  leaving  only 
naked  rocks  where  formerly  there  was  the  finest 
pasturage  for  cows."  The  bushes  have  never 
grown  again  on  Star;  but  Appledore,  wherever 
there  is  soil  enough  to  hold  a  root,  is  overgro^vn 
2 


26  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

with  huckleberry  and  baybeny  bushes,  the  glossy 
green  leaves  of  the  latter  yielding  a  wholesome, 
aromatic  fragrance,  which  accords  well  with  the 
fresh  and  healthy  sea-odors.  Blackberry,  raspberry, 
wild  currant,  and  gooseberry  bushes  also  flourish  ; 
there  are  clumps  of  elder  and  sumach,  woodbine 
and  the  poison  ivy,  shrubs  of  wild-cherry  and 
shadbush,  and  even  one  little  wild  apple-tree  that 
yearly  bears  a  few  large,  bright  blossoms. 

It  is  curious  to  note  the  varieties  of  plants,  wild- 
flowers,  and  grasses  on  this  island  alone.  There 
are  six  different  ferns,  and  many  delicate  flowers 
bloom  in  the  spring,  whose  faces  it  is  a  continual 
surprise  to  find  looking  up  at  you  from  the  rough 
ground,  among  the  rocks.  Every  flower  seems 
twice  as  beautiful  under  these  circumstances ;  audit 
is  a  fact  that  the  salt  air  and  a  peculiar  richness  in 
the  soil  give  a  luxuriance  of  growth  and  a  depth  of 
color  not  found  elsewhere.  "Is  that  willow- 
weed  "  (or  whatever  it  may  be)  1  "1  never  saw 
any  so  bright ! "  is  a  remark  often  heard  from 
strangers  visiting  the  islands  for  the  first  time. 
The  pale-pink  herb-robert,  for  instance,  blushes 
with  a  tint  almost  as  deep  as  a  damask  rose,  and 
as  for  the  wild-roses,  I  heard  some  one  say  they 
were  as  "  bright  as  red  carnations."  In  the  spring 
the  anemones  are  stained  with  purple  and  pink 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  27 

and  yellow  in  a  way  that  makes  their  sisters  of 
the  mainland  seem  pallid  beside  them ;  and  the 
violets  are  wonderful,  —  the  blue  ones  so  large 
and  dark,  and  the  delicately-veined  white  ones  rich 
with  creamy  fragrance. 

The  calyx  of  the  shadbush-flower  is  dyed  with 
purple,  almost  crimson,  and  the  color  runs  into 
the  milky  whiteness  of  the  petals.  The  little 
pimpernel  (when  it  has  anything  but  salt  gravel  to 
grow  in,  for  it  runs  fairly  into  the  sea)  is  clear 
vermilion,  and  the  pearly  eyebright  is  violet  on 
the  edges ;  the  shy  celandine  glows  golden  in  its 
shady  clefts,  and  the  spotted  jewel-weed  is  as  rich 
and  splendid  as  a  flower  in  Doctor  Rappacini's  fa- 
mous garden.  Sometimes  it  is  as  if  the  order  of 
nature  were  set  aside  in  this  spot ;  for  you  find  the 
eyebright  and  pimpernel  and  white  violets  grow- 
ing side  by  side  until  the  fi'ost  comes  in  Novem- 
ber; often  October  passes  with  no  sign  of  frost, 
and  the  autumn  lingers  later  than  elsewhere.  I 
have  even  seen  the  iris  and  wild-rose  and  golden-rod 
and  aster  in  blossom  together,  as  if,  not  having 
the  example  of  the  world  before  their  eyes,  they 
followed  their  own  sweet  will,  and  bloomed  when 
they  took  the  fancy.  As  for  garden  flowers,  when 
you  plant  them  in  this  soil  they  fairly  run  mad 
with  color.     People  say,  ''  Do  give  me  some  seeds 


28  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

of  these  wonderful  flowers  "  ;  and  they  sow  them 
in  their  gardens  on  tlie  mainland,  and  they  come 
up  decorous,  commonplace,  and  pale,  like  their  sis- 
ters in  the  same  soil.  The  little  spot  of  earth  on 
which  they  grow  at  the  island  is  like  a  mass  of 
jewels.  Who  shall  describe  the  pansies,  richly 
streaked  with  burning  gold ;  the  dark  velvet  core- 
opsis and  the  nasturtium ;  the  larkspurs,  bhie  and 
brilliant  as  lapis-lazuli ;  the  "  ardent  marigolds," 
that  flame  like  mimic  suns  ?  The  sweet-peas  are 
of  a  deep,  bright  rose-color,  and  their  odor  is  like 
rich  wine,  too  sweet  almost  to  be  borne,  except 
when  the  pure  fragrance  of  mignonette  is  added, 
—  such  mignonette  as  never  grows  on  shore. 
Why  should  the  poppies  blaze  in  such  imperial 
scarlet  1  What  quality  is  hidden  in  this  thin  soil, 
which  so  transfigTires  all  the  familiar  flowers  with 
fresh  beauty  *?  I  have  heard  it  said  that  it  is  the 
crumbled  rock  which  so  enriches  the  earth,  but  I 
do  not  know. 

If  a  flock  of  sheep  and  various  cows  did  not 
browse  over  Appledore  incessantly,  it  would  be  a 
little  wilderness  of  wild-flowers  in  the  summer; 
they  love  the  soil  and  climate,  and  put  forth  all 
their  strength  and  loveliness.  And  every  year  or 
two  a  new  kind  appears,  of  which  the  seed  has 
been  brought  by  some  bird,  or,  perhaps,  shaken 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  29 

out  of  a  bundle  of  hay.  Last  summer,  for  the 
first  time,  I  found  the  purple  polj^gala  growing  in 
a  meadowy  piece  of  turf  on  the  south  side  of  the 
island.  Columbines  and  the  fragrant  ground-nut, 
helianthus,  and  various  other  plants,  grow  only  on 
Duck  Island ;  and  it  is  singular  that  the  little  po- 
tentilla,  which  I  am  told  grows  elsewhere  only  on 
mountain-sides,  is  found  here  on  all  the  islands. 
At  Smutty-nose  alone  certain  plants  of  the  wicked- 
looking  henbane  ( Hyoscyamus  niger)  flourish,  and, 
on  Londoners  only,  there  spreads  at  the  top  of 
the  beach  a  large  sea-lungwort  {Mertensia  mari- 
twia).  At  Star  the  crooked  little  ways  between 
the  houses  are  lined  with  tall  plants  of  the  pois- 
onous hemlock  (the  Conium  that  made  the  death- 
draught  of  Socrates),  which  flourishes  amain,  and 
is  the  only  green  thing  out  of  the  small  walled  en- 
closures, except  the  grass  and  the  burdocks ;  for 
the  cows  and  the  children  devastate  the  ground. 

Appledore  is  altogether  the  most  agTeeable  in 
its  aspect  of  all  the  islands,  being  the  largest,  and 
having  a  greater  variety  of  surface  than  the  rest. 
Its  southern  portion  is  full  of  interest,  from  the 
traces  of  vanished  humanity  which  one  beholds  at 
every  step ;  for  the  gi'ound  in  some  places  is  un- 
dermined with  ancient  graves,  and  the  ruined  cel- 
lars of  houses  wherein  men  and  women  lived  more 


30  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

than  a  century  ago  are  scattered  here  and  there 
to  the  number  of  seventy  and  more.  The  men  and 
women  are  dust  and  ashes ;  but  here  are  the  stones 
they  squared  and  laid;  here  are  the  thresholds 
over  which  so  many  feet  have  passed.  The  pale 
green  and  lilac  and  golden  lichens  have  overgrown 
and  effaced  all  traces  of  their  footsteps  on  the  door- 
stones  ;  but  here  they  passed  in  and  out,  — old  and 
young,  little  feet  of  children,  heavy  tramp  of  stal- 
wart fishermen,  lighter  tread  of  women,  painful  and 
uncertain  steps  of  age.  Pleasant  it  is  to  think  of 
the  brown  and  swarthy  fisherman,  the  father,  stand- 
ing on  such  a  threshold,  and  with  the  keen  glance 
all  seafaring  men  possess  sweeping  the  wide  hori- 
zon for  signs  of  fair  or  foul  weather;  or  the 
mother,  sitting  in  the  sun  on  the  step,  nursing 
her  baby,  perhaps,  or  mending  a  net,  or  spinning, 
—  for  the  women  here  were  famous  spinners,  and 
on  Star  Island  yet  are  women  who  have  not  for- 
gotten the  art.  Pleasanter  still  to  think  of  some 
slender  girl  at  twilight  lingering  with  reluctant 
feet,  and  wistful  eyes  that  search  the  dusky  sea  for 
a  returning  sail  whose  glimmer  is  sweeter  than 
moonlight  or  starlight  to  her  sight,  —  lingering 
still,  though  her  mother  calls  within  and  the  dew 
falls  with  the  falling  night.  I  love  to  people  these 
solitudes  again,  and  think  that  those  who  lived 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  31 

here  centuries  ago  were  decent,  God-fearing  folk, 
most  of  them,  —  for  so  tradition  says;*  though 
in  later  years  they  fell  into  evil  ways,  and  drank 
"fire-water,"  and  came  to  grief.  And  all  the  pic- 
tures over  which  I  dream  are  set  in  this  framework 
of  the  sea,  that  sparkled  and  sang,  or  frowned  and 
threatened,  in  the  ages  that  are  gone  as  it  does 
to-day,  and  will  continue  to  smile  and  threaten 
when  we  who  listen  to  it  and  love  it  and  fear  it 
now  are  dust  and  ashes  in  our  turn. 

Some  of  the  cellars  are  double,  as  if  two  fami- 
lies had  built  together ;  some  are  distinctly  marked  ; 
in  others  the  stones  have  partly  fallen  in ;  all  are 
more  or  less  overgrown  with  lichens,  and  thick, 
short  turf  creeps  everywhere  in  and  about  them. 
Sometimes  garlands  of  woodbine  drape  the 
walls,  and  poison-ivy  clasps  and  knots  itself  about 
the  rocks ;  clumps  of  sweet  flowering-elder  cluster 
in  the  comers,  or  graceful,  stag-horned  sumachs, 
or  raspberry  bushes  with  ruddy  fruit.  Wild 
spiked  thistles  spread,  and  tall  mullein-stalks 
stand  like  sentinels  on  guard  over  the  desolation. 
Beautiful  it  is  to  see  the  delicate  herb-robert's  rosy 

*  "  The  character  and  habits  of  the  original  settlers  for  in- 
dustry, intelligence,  and  pure  morals  have  acquired  for  them 
great  respect  in  the  estimation  of  posterity."  —  WUliamson^s 
History  of  Maine. 


32  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

flowers  among  the  rough  heaps  of  rocks,  like  a 
tender  afterthought  where  all  is  hard  and  stem. 

It  is  a  part  of  the  religious  belief  of  the  Shoal- 
ers,  that  the  ruinous  cairn  on  the  summit  of  Ap- 
pledore  was  built  by  the  famous  John  Smith  and 
his  men  when  they  discovered  the  islands  in  the 
year  1614;  and  I  will  not  be  so  heretical  as  to 
doubt  the  fact,  though  it  seems  just  as  likely  that 
it  was  set  up  by  fishermen  and  sailors  as  a  land- 
mark. At  any  rate,  nobody  knows  when  it  was 
not  there,  and  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  imagine  any 
origin  for  it.  I  never  could  be  precisely  certain 
of  the  site  of  the  first  meeting-house  on  this  isl- 
and, "  built  (of  brick)  at  a  very  early  period,  pos- 
sibly the  first  in  the  province,"  says  Williamson  in 
his  "  History  of  Maine."  Probably  there  was  no 
cellar  beneath  it,  and  the  slight  underpinning  has 
been  scattered  and  obliterated  by  time,  —  a  fate 
which  many  of  the  houses  must  have  shared  in  like 
manner.  \ATien  man  has  vanished,  Nature  strives 
to  restore  her  original  order  of  things,  and  she 
smooths  away  gradually  all  traces  of  his  work  with 
the  broad  hands  of  her  changing  seasons.  The 
men  who  built  the  Pyramids  felt  this  ;  but  will  not 
the  world  spin  long  enough  to  level  their  masonry 
with  the  desolate  sands'?  Neither  is  there  any 
sign  of  the  foundation   of   that   "Academy"   to 


AMONG   THE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS.  33 

which  "  even  gentlemen  from  some  of  the  princi- 
pal towns  on  the  sea-coast  sent  their  sons  for  lit- 
erary instruction,  "  —  I  quote  again  from  William- 
son. How  like  a  dream  it  seems,  looking  now  at 
these  deserted  rocks,  that  so  much  happened  here 
in  the  years  that  are  gone  !  The  connection  of 
Spain  with  these  islands  always  had  a  great  fasci- 
nation for  me ;  it  is  curious  that  the  brightest  and 
gayest  of  lands,  all  aglow  with  sunshine  and  so 
rich  with  southern  beauty,  should  be  in  any  way 
linked  with  this  place,  so  remote  and  desolate. 
*'  In  1730,  and  afterwards,  three  or  four  ships  used 
to  load  at  the  Shoals  with  winter  and  spring  mer- 
chantable fish  for  Bilboa  in  Spain."  What  won- 
drous craft  must  have  navigated  these  waters,  — 
lazy,  lumbering  old  ships,  with  quaintly  carved  fig- 
ure-heads, and  high-peaked  sterns  and  prows,  and 
heavy  draperies  of  weather-beaten  sails,  pictur- 
esque and  charming  to  behold,  and  well  enough 
for  the  sparkling  Mediterranean,  but  not  the  sort 
of  build  to  battle  with  the  Atlantic  breakers,  as 
several  wrecks  of  vessels  caught  in  the  terrible 
gales  and  driven  upon  the  pitiless  ledges  might 
testify  !  The  ship  Sagunto,  it  is  said,  met  her  de- 
struction here  as  late  as  the  year  1813 ;  and  there 
are  faint  echoes  of  other  disasters  of  the  kind,  but 
the  names  of  other  ships  have  not  come  down  to 
2*  c 


34  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

US.  One  wrecked  on  Appledore  left  only  a  quan- 
tity of  broad  silver  pieces  sprinkled  about  the 
rocks  to  tell  of  the  calamity.  A  fisherman  from 
Star,  paddling  over  in  his  dory  to  explore  the  coves 
and  chasms  for  driftwood  (for  the  island  was  unin- 
habited at  the  time),  came  suddenly  upon  the 
glittering  coins.  His  amazement  was  boundless. 
After  filling  his  pockets,  a  sudden  terror  possessed 
him  ;  he  began  to  have  a  suspicion  that  something 
uncanny  lurked  at  the  bottom  of  such  good  for- 
tune (for  the  superstition  of  the  natives  is  very 
great),  and  fled  home  to  tell  his  neighbors,  who 
came  in  a  body  and  made  short  work  of  the  process 
of  gathering  the  rest  of  the  treasure.  Occasion- 
ally, since  that  time,  coins  have  been  found  about 
the  southeast  point,  whereon  the  unknown  vessel 
struck  and  was  completely  destroyed.  Of  course 
Captain  Kidd,  "  as  he  sailed,"  is  supposed  to  have 
made  the  locality  one  of  his  many  hiding-places. 
I  remember  being  awed  when  a  child  at  the  story 
of  how  a  certain  old  black  Dinah,  an  inhabitant 
of  Portsmouth,  came  out  to  Appledore,  then  en- 
tirely divested  of  human  abodes,  and  alone,  with 
only  a  divining-rod  for  company,  passed  several 
daj^s  and  nights  wandering  over  the  island,  mut- 
tering to  herself,  with  her  divining-rod  carefully 
balanced    in  her    skinny  hands.     Robert  Kidd's 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  35 

buried  treasure,  if  it  existed,  never  signalled  from 
below  to  that  mystic  rod,  and  the  old  negress  re- 
turned empty-handed;  but  what  a  picture  she 
must  have  made  wandering  there  in  the  loneliness, 
by  sunlight,  or  moonlight,  or  starlight,  with  her 
weird  figure,  her  dark  face,  her  garments  flutter- 
ing in  the  wind,  and  the  awful  rod  in  her  hand  ! 

On  Star  Island,  I  have  been  told,  a  little  three- 
legged  black  pot  fall  of  gold  and  silver  pieces  was 
dug  up  not  very  many  years  ago ;  and  it  is  cer- 
tainly true  that  Mr.  Samuel  Haley,  who  lived  upon 
and  owned  Smutty-nose,  in  building  a  wall,  turned 
over  a  large,  flat  stone  beneath  which  lay  four  bars 
of  solid  silver.  He  must  have  been  a  fine,  ener- 
getic old  fellow,  that  Samuel  Haley.  With  this 
treasure,  says  tradition  again,  he  built,  at  gi'eat 
trouble  and  expense,  the  sea-wall  which  connects 
Smutty-nose  with  Malaga,  and  makes  a  safe  har- 
bor for  distressed  mariners  in  stormy  weather. 
(This  name  Malaga,  by  the  way,  is  a  veiy  distinct 
token  of  the  Spaniards.)  Not  only  did  Haley 
build  the  sea-wall,  but  he  erected  salt-works  which 
"manufactured  excellent  salt  for  the  curing  of 
fish,"  and  stretched  a  rope  walk  over  the  uneven 
ground  to  the  extent  of  two  hundred  and  seventy 
feet,  and  set  up  windmills  to  catch  with  their 
wide  wings  all  the  winds  that  blew,  that  he  might 


36  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

grind  bis  own  corn  and  wheat,  and  live  as  indepen- 
dently as  possible  of  his  fellow-men ;  for  that  is  one 
of  the  first  things  a  settler  on  the  Isles  of  Shoals 
finds  it  necessary  to  learn.  He  planted  a  little 
orchard  where  the  soil  was  deepest,  and  with  much 
cherishing  care  contrived  to  coax  his  cherry-trees 
into  abundant  fruitfulness,  and  in  every  way  made 
the  most  of  the  few  advantages  of  the  place.  The 
old  square  house  which  he  built  upon  his  island, 
and  which  still  stands,  had,  long  ago,  a  broad 
balcony  running  the  whole  length  of  the  house 
beneath  the  second-story  windows.  This  being  in 
a  ruinous  condition,  I  never  dared  venture  out 
■upon  it ;  but  a  large,  square  lookout,  with  a  stout 
railing,  which  he  built  on  the  top  of  the  house, 
remained  till  within  a  few  years ;  and  I  found  it  a 
charming  place  to  linger  in  on  still  days,  and  watch 
the  sky  and  the  sea  and  the  vessels,  and  the  play 
of  color  over  the  bright  face  of  the  world.  Looking 
from  that  airy  station  years  ago,  I  used  to  think 
how  many  times  he  had  sat  there  with  his  spy- 
glass, scanning  the  horizon  and  all  within  it,  while 
the  wind  ruffled  his  gray  hair  and  the  sun  shone 
pleasantly  across  his  calm  old  face.  Many  years 
of  his  useful,  happy  life  he  lived  there,  and  left 
behind  him  a  beloved  and  honorable  name.  His 
descendants,  still  living  upon  Star,  are  among  the 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  37 

best  people  in  the  village.  A  young  girl  bearing 
his  name  was  lately  married  to  one  of  the 
youthful  fishermen.  Star  Island  might  well  be 
proud  of  such  a  girl,  so  modest  and  sweet,  and 
pretty  too,  slender  and  straight,  dark-haired, 
brown-eyed,  —  as  picturesque  a  creature  as  one 
would  wish  to  see,  with  a  delicate  rose  in  her 
cheek  and  a  clear  light  of  intelligence  in  her  eyes. 
Considering  her,  and  remembering  this  ancient 
ancestor  of  hers,  I  thought  she  came  honestly  by 
her  gentle,  self-reliant  expression,  and  her  fine 
bearing,  full  of  unconscious  dignity  and  grace. 
The  old  man's  quaint  epitaph  speaks  of  his  hu- 
manity in  "  receiving  into  his  enclosure  many  a 
poor,  distressed  seaman  and  fisherman  in  distress 
of  weather."  "  In  distress  of  weather  ! "  One  must 
live  in  such  a  place  fully  to  comprehend  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words.  It  was  his  custom  every  night 
to  put  in  his  bedroom  window,  over  the  broad 
balcony  facing  the  southeast,  a  light  which 
burned  all  night,  —  a  little  act  of  thoughtfulness 
which  speaks  volumes.  I  think  the  lighthouse 
could  not  have  been  kindled  at  that  time,  but  I  am 
not  sm^e.  There  is  much  uncertainty  with  regard 
to  dates  and  records  of  those  old  times.  Mr. 
Haley  is  said  to  have  died  in  1811,  but  I  have 
always  heard  that  he  was  living  when  the  Sagunto 


38  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

was  wrecked  upon  his  island,  which  happened, 
according  to  the  Gosport  records,  in  1813.  This 
is  the  entry :  ^'  Ship  Sagunto  stranded  on  Smoti- 
nose  Isle  Jany  14*^  1813  Jany  15*^  one  man 
found,  Jany  16*^  6  men  found  21  —  7  the  Num- 
ber of  men  yet  found  Belonging  to  said  ship 
twelve."  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  writer  made 
a,  mistake  in  his  date  as  well  as  his  spelling  and 
arithmetic,  for  it  is  an  accepted  tradition  that  Mr. 
Haley  found  and  buried  the  dead  crew  of  that 
ship,  and  I  have  always  heard  it  spoken  of  as  a 
simple  fact.  On  that  stormy  January  night,  runs 
the  story,  he  placed  the  light  as  usual  in  his 
chamber  window,  and  I  dare  say  prayed  in  his 
good  heart  that  no  vessel  might  be  wandering  near 
this  dangerous  place,  tossed  helpless  on  the  raging 
sea  in  the  thick  darkness  and  bitter  cold  and  blind- 
ing snow.  But  that  night  the  great  ship  Sagunto 
drove,  crashing,  full  upon  the  fatal  southeast  point, 
in  sight  of  the  tiny  spark  that  burned  peacefully, 
unwavering,  in  that  quiet  chamber.  Her  costly 
timbers  of  mahogany  and  cedar-wood  were  splin- 
tered on  the  sharp  teeth  of  those  inexorable  rocks ; 
her  cargo  of  dried  fruits  and  nuts  and  bales  of 
broadcloth  and  gold  and  silver,  was  tossed  about 
the  shore,  and  part  of  her  crew  were  thrown  alive 
upon  it.    Some  of  them  saw  the  light,  and  crawled 


AMONG    THE  ISLES    OF  SHOALS.  39 

toward  it  benumbed  with  cold  and  spent  with 
fatigue  and  terror.  The  roaring  of  the  storm 
bore  away  their  faint  cries  of  distress ;  the  old 
man  slept  on  quietly,  with  his  family  about  him, 
sheltered,  safe ;  while  a  stone's-throw  from  his 
door  these  sailors  strove  and  agonized  to  reach 
that  friendly  light.  Two  of  them  gained  the  stone- 
wall in  front  of  the  house,  but  their  ebbing  strength 
would  not  allow  them  to  climb  over ;  they  threw 
themselves  upon  it,  and  perished  miserably,  with 
safety,  warmth,  and  comfort  so  close  at  hand  !  In 
the  morning,  when  the  tumult  was  somewhat 
hushed,  and  underneath  the  sullen  sky  rolled  the 
more  sullen  sea  in  long,  deliberate  waves,  the  old 
man  looked  out  in  the  early  light  across  the  waste 
of  snow,  and  on  the  wall  lay  —  something  that 
broke  the  familiar  outline,  though  all  was  smooth 
with  the  pure,  soft  snow.  He  must  put  on  coat 
and  cap,  and  go  and  find  out  what  this  strange 
thing  might  be.  Ah,  that  was  a  sight  for  his  pity- 
ing eyes  under  the  cold  and  leaden  light  of  that 
unrelenting  morning !  He  summoned  his  sons 
and  his  men.  Quickly  the  alarm  was  given,  and 
there  was  confusion  and  excitement  as  the  island- 
ers, hurriedly  gathering,  tried  if  it  were  possible 
yet  to  save  some  life  amid  the  wreck.  But  it  was 
too  late;  every  soul  was  lost.     Fourteen   bodies 


40  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

were  found  at  that  time,  strewn  all  the  way  be- 
tween the  wall  and  that  southeast  point  where  the 
vessel  had  gone  to  pieces.  The  following  summer 
the  skeleton  of  another  was  discovered  among 
some  bushes  near  the  shore.  The  imagination 
lingers  over  those  poor  drowned  sailors ;  strives 
to  figure  what  each  man  was  like,  what  might 
have  been  the  musical  name  of  each  (for  all  names 
in  Spanish  should  be  musical,  with  a  reminiscence 
of  flute  and  guitar  in  them)  ;  dwells  on  the  dark- 
olive  faces  and  jet-black  hair,  the  graceful  foreign 
dress,  —  curious  short  jackets,  perhaps,  with  bits 
of  bright  embroidery  that  loving  hands  had 
worked  for  them,  all  stained  and  tarnished  by  the 
brine.  No  doubt  some  of  them  wore  about  their 
necks  a  cross  or  amulet,  with  an  image  of  the 
"  Blessed  Virgin  "  or  the  *'  Son  of  God,"  that  so 
they  might  be  saved  from  just  such  a  fate  as 
this  ;  and  maybe  some  one  among  these  sailor-men 
carried  against  his  heart  a  lock  of  hair,  dark  and 
lustrous  before  the  washing  of  the  cold  waves 
dulled  the  brightness  of  its  beauty.  Fourteen 
shallow  graves  were  quarried  for  the  unknown 
dead  in  the  iron  earth,  and  there  they  lie,  with 
him  who  buried  them  a  little  above  in  the  same 
grassy  slope.     Here  is  his  epitaph  :  — 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  41 

"In  memoiy  of  Mr.  Samuel  Haley 

Who  died  in  the  year  1811 

Aged  84 

He  was  a  man  of  great  Ingenuity 

Industry  Honor  and  Honestj^,  true  to  his 

Country  &  A  man  who  did  A  great 

Publik  good  in  Building  A 

Dock  &  Receiving  into  his 

Enclosure  many  a  poor 

Distressed  Seaman  &  Fisherman 

In  distress  of  Weather." 

A  few  steps  from  their  resting-place  the  low  wall 
on  which  the  two  unfortunates  were  found  frozen 
is  falling  into  ruin.  The  glossy  green  leaves  of 
the  bayberry-bushes  crowd  here  and  there  about 
it,  in  odorous  ranks  on  either  side,  and  sweetly 
the  warm  blush  of  the  wild-rose  glows  against  its 
cool  gray  stones.  Leaning  upon  it  in  summer 
afternoons,  when  the  wind  is  quiet  and  there  steals 
up  a  fragrance  and  fresh  murmur  from  the  incom- 
ing tide,  when  the  slowly  mellowing  light  lies  tran- 
quil over  the  placid  sea,  enriching  everything  it 
touches  with  infinite  beauty,  —  waves  and  rocks 
that  kill  and  destroy,  blossoming  roses  and  lonely 
graves,  —  a  wistful  sadness  colors  all  one's  thoughts. 
Afar  off  the  lazy  waters  sing  and  smile  about  that 
white  point,  shimmering  in  the  brilliant  atmos- 
phere. How  peaceful  it  is !  How  innocent  and 
unconscious  is  the  whole  face  of  this  awful  and 


42  AMONG   THE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS. 

beautiful  nature !  But,  listening  to  the  blissful 
murmur  of  the  tide,  one  can  but  think  with  what 
another  voice  that  tide  spoke  when  it  ground  the 
ship  to  atoms  and  roared  with  sullen  thunder 
about  those  dying  men. 

There  is  no  inscription  on  the  rough  boulders  at 
the  head  and  foot  of  these  graves.  A  few  more 
years,  and  all  trace  of  them  will  be  obliterated. 
Already  the  stones  lean  this  way  and  that,  and 
are  half  buried  in  the  rank  grass.  Soon  will  they 
be  entirely  forgotten ;  the  old,  old  world  forgets 
so  much  !  And  it  is  sown  thick  with  graves  from 
pole  to  pole. 

"  These  islands  bore  some  of  the  first  footprints 
of  New-England  Christianity  and  civilization. 
They  were  for  a  long  time  the  abode  of  intelli- 
gence, refinement,  and  virtue,  but  were  afterwards 
abandoned  to  a  state  of  semi-barbarism."  The 
first  intelligence  of  the  place  comes  to  us  from 
the  year  1614,  when  John  Smith  is  supposed  to 
have  discovered  them.  The  next  date  is  of  the 
landing  of  Christopher  Leavitt,  in  1623.  In  1645, 
three  brothers,  Robert,  John,  and  Richard  Cutts, 
emigrated  from  Wales,  and  on  their  way  to  the 
continent  paused  at  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  and,  find- 
ing them  so  pleasant,  made  their  settlement  here. 
Williamson  mentions  particularly  Richard  Gibson, 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  43 

from  Topsham,  England,  and  various  other  men 
from  England  and  Wales.  Many  people  speedily 
joined  the  little  colony,  which  grew  yearly  more 
prosperoQS.  In  1650,  the  Rev.  John  Brock  came 
to  live  among  the  islanders,  and  remained  with 
them  twelve  years.  All  that  we  hear  of  this  man 
is  so  fine,  he  is  represented  as  having  been  so  faith- 
ful, zealous,  intelligent,  and  humane,  that  it  is  no 
wonder  the  community  flourished  while  he  sat  at 
the  helm.  It  was  said  of  him,  "  He  dwells  as  near 
Heaven  as  any  man  upon  earth."  Cotton  Mather 
thus  quaintly  praises  him  :  "  He  was  a  good 
grammarian,  chiefly  in  this,  that  he  still  spoke  the 
tricth  from  his  heart.  He  was  a  good  logician, 
chiefly  in  this,  that  he  presented  himself  unto  God 
vrith  a  reasonable  service.  He  was  a  good  arith- 
metician, chiefly  in  this,  that  he  50  numbered  his 
days  as  to  apply  his  heart  unto  wisdom.  He  was  a 
good  astronomer,  chiefly  in  this,  that  his  conversa' 

tion  was  in  Heaven So  much  belonged  to 

this  good  man,  that  so  learned  a  life  may  well  be 
judged  worthy  of  being  a  written  one^  After  him 
came  a  long  procession  of  the  clergy,  good,  bad, 
and  indifterent,  up  to  the  present  time,  when 
"divine  service,"  so-called,  has  seemed  a  mere 
burlesque  as  it  has  been  often  carried  on  in  the 
Vttle  church  at  Star. 


44  AMONG   TEE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

Last  summer  I  was  shown  a  quaint  little  book 
entitled  "  The  Fisherman's  Calling.  A  brief  essay- 
to  Serve  the  Great  Interests  of  Reliofion  amons-  our 
Fishermen.  By  Cotton  Mather,  D.  D.  Boston  in 
New  England.  Printed:  Sold  by  T.  Green.  1712," 
and  I  found  the  following  incident  connected  with 
Mr.  Brock's  ministry  at  the  Shoals  :  ''  To  Illustrate 
and  Demonstrate  the  Providence  of  God  our  Saviour 
over  the  Business  of  fishermen,  I  will  entertain  you 
with  Two  short  Modern  Histories."  Then  follows 
an  account  of  some  Eomish  priests  upon  some  isles 
belonging  to  Scotland,  who  endeavored  to  draw  the 
poor  fishermen  over  to  poperj.  The  other  is  this  : 
"  When  our  Mr.  Brock  lived  on  the  Isles  of  Shoals, 
he  brought  the  Fishermen  into  an  agi'eement  that 
besides  the  Lord's  Day  they  would  spend  one  day 
of  every  month  together  in  the  worshij)  of  the 
Glorious  Lord.  A  certain  day  which  by  their 
Agreement  belonged  unto  the  Exercises  of  Religion 
being  arrived,  they  came  to  Mr.  Brock,  and  asked 
him,  that  they  might  put  by  their  meeting  and  go 
a  Fishing,  because  they  had  Lost  many  Days  by  the 
Foulness  of  the  weather.  He,  seeing  that  without 
and  against  his  consent  they  resolved  upon  doing 
what  they  asked  of  him,  replied,  '  If  you  wiU  go 
away  I  say  unto  you,  '  Catch  Fish  if  you  can ! ' 
But  as  for  you  that  wiU  tarry,  and  worship  our  Lord 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  45 

Jesus  Christ  this  day,  I  will  pray  unto  Him  fot 
you  that  you  may  afterwards  take  fish  till  you  are 
wear}\'  Thirty  men  went  away  from  the  meeting 
and  Five  tarried.  The  thirty  that  went  away  from 
the  meeting  with  all  their  Craft  could  catch  but 
four  Fishes.  The  Five  which  tarried  went  forth 
afterwards  and  the?/  took  Jive  Hundred.  The  Fish- 
ermen were  after  this  Readier  to  hearken  unto  the 
Voice  of  their  Teacher." 

If  virtue  were  often  its  own  reward  after  a  fash- 
ion like  this,  in  what  a  well-conducted  world  we 
should  live  !  Doubtless  the  reckless  islanders 
needed  the  force  of  all  the  moral  suasion  good  Mr. 
Brock  could  bring  to  bear  upon  them ;  too  much 
law  and  order  they  could  not  have ;  but  I  like  bet- 
ter this  story  of  the  stout  old  fisherman  who  in 
church  so  unexpectedly  answered  his  pastor's 
thrilling  exhortation,  ''  Supposing,  my  brethren, 
that  any  of  you  should  be  overtaken  in  the  bay 
by  a  northeast  storm,  your  hearts  trembling  with 
fear,  and  nothing  but  death  before,  whither  would 
your  thoughts  turn  %  what  would  you  do  % "  —  with 
the  instant  inspiration  of  common-sense,  "  I  'd  hoist 
the  foresail  and  scud  away  for  Squam  ! " 

The  first  church  on  Star  was  built  principally 
Df  timbers  from  the  wrecks  of  Spanish  ships,  but 
it  has  been  partially  burned  and  rebuilt  twice. 


46  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

Various  rough  characters,  given  over  to  hard  drink- 
ing, and  consequently  lawless  living,  have  joined 
the  colony  within  the  last  ten  years,  and  made  the 
place  the  scene  of  continually  recurring  fires.  On 
going  down  to  Appledore  one  spring  I  was  sur- 
prised at  the  daily  and  nightly  jangling  of  the  dull 
bell  at  Star, — a  dissonant  sound  borne  wildly  on  the 
stormy  wind  to  our  dwelling.  "  What  is  Star  Isl- 
and ringing  for  ? "  I  kept  asking,  and  was  as  often 
answered, "  0,  it 's  only  Sam  Blake  setting  his  house 
on  fire  ! "  —  the  object  being  to  obtain  the  insur- 
ance thereupon. 

On  the  Massachusetts  records  there  is  a  para- 
graph to  the  effect  that,  in  the  year  1653,  Philip 
Babb,  of  Hog  Island,  was  appointed  constable  for 
all  the  islands  of  Shoals,  Star  Island  excepted. 
To  Philip  Babb  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer 
again.  "In  May,  1661,"  says  Williamson,  '^ being 
places  of  note  and  great  resort,  the  General  Court 
incorporated  the  islands  into  a  town  called  Apple- 
dore, and  invested  it  with  the  powers  and  privi- 
leges of  other  towns,"  There  were  then  about 
forty  families  on  Hog  Island,  but  between  that 
time  and  the  year  1670  these  removed  to  Star  Isl- 
and and  joined  the  settlement  there.  This  they 
were  induced  to  do  partly  through  fear  of  the  In- 
dians, who  frequented  Duck  Island,  and  thence 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  47 

made  plundering  excursions  upon  them,  carrying 
off  their  women  while  they  were  absent  fishing, 
and  doing  a  variety  of  harm ;  but,  as  it  is  expressly 
stated  that  people  living  on  the  mainland  sent 
their  children  to  school  at  Appledore  that  they 
might  be  safe  from  the  Indians,  the  statement  of 
their  depredations  at  the  Shoals  is  perplexing. 
Probably  the  savages  camped  on  Duck  to  cany  on 
their  craft  of  porpoise-fishing,  which  to  this  day 
they  still  pursue  among  the  islands  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  Maine.  Star  Island  seemed  a  place  of 
greater  safety ;  and  probably  the  greater  advantages 
of  landing  and  the  convenience  of  a  wide  cove  at 
the  entrance  of  the  village,  with  a  little  harbor 
wherein  the  fishing-craft  might  anchor  with  some 
security,  were  also  inducements.  William  Pep- 
perell,  a  native  of  Cornwall,  England,  emigrated 
to  the  place  in  the  year  1676,  and  lived  there  up- 
wards of  twenty  years,  and  carried  on  a  large  fish- 
ery. "  He  was  the  father  of  Sir  William  Pepperell, 
the  most  famous  man  Maine  ever  produced."  For 
more  than  a  century  previous  to  the  Revolutionary 
War  there  were  at  the  Shoals  from  three  to  six 
hundred  inhabitants,  and  the  little  settlement 
flourished  steadily.  They  had  their  church  and 
school-house,  and  a  court-house ;  and  the  usual 
municipal  officers  were  annually  chosen,  and  the 


48  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

town  records  regularly  kept.  From  three  to  four 
thousand  quintals  of  fish  were  yearly  caught  and 
cured  by  the  islanders  ;  and,  beside  their  trade 
with  Spain,  large  quantities  of  fish  were  also  car- 
ried to  Portsmouth,  for  the  West  India  market. 
In  1671  the  islands  belonged  to  John  Mason  and 
Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges.  This  man  always  greatly 
interested  me.  He  must  have  been  a  person  of 
great  force  of  character,  strong,  clear-headed,  full 
of  fire  and  energy.  He  was  appointed  governor- 
general  of  New  England  in  1637.  Williamson  has 
much  to  say  of  him  :  "  He  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
whose  acquaintance  was  familiar,  possessing  minds 
equally  elastic  and  adventurous,  turned  their 
thoughts  at  an  early  period  of  life  towards  the 
American  hemisphere."  And  the  historian  thus 
goes  on  lamenting  over  him  :  "  Fame  and  wealth, 
so  often  the  idols  of  superior  intellects,  were  the 
prominent  objects  of  this  aspiring  man.  Constant 
and  sincere  in  his  friendships,  he  might  have  had 
extensively  the  estimation  of  others,  had  not  self- 
ishness been  the  centre  of  all  his  efforts.  His  life 
and  name,  though  by  no  means  free  from  blem- 
ishes, have  just  claims  to  the  grateful  recollections 
of  the  Eastern  Americans  and  their  posterity." 

From  1640  to  1775,  says  a  report  to  the  "Soci- 
ety for  Propagatmg  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  49 

and  Others  in  North  America,"  the  church  at  the 
Shoals  was  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  had  a 
succession  of  ministers,  —  Messrs.  Hull,  Brock, 
Belcher,  Moody,  Tucke,  and  Shaw,  all  of  whom 
were  good  and  faithful  men ;  two.  Brock  and 
Tucke,  being  men  of  learning  and  ability,  with 
peculiarities  of  talent  and  character  admirably 
fitting  them  for  their  work  on  these  islands.  Tucke 
was  the  only  one  who  closed  his  life  and  ministry 
at  the  Shoals.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
College  of  the  class  of  1723,  was  ordained  at  the 
Shoals  July  20,  1732,  and  died  there  August  12, 
1773,  —  his  ministry  thus  covering  more  than  forty 
years.  His  salary  in  1771  was  paid  in  merchant- 
able fish,  a  quintal  to  a  man,  when  there  were  on 
the  Shoals  fi'om  ninety  to  one  hundred  men,  and 
a  quintal  of  fish  was  worth  a  guinea.  His  grave 
was  accidentally  discovered  in  1800,  and  the  Hon. 
Dudley  Atkins  Tyng,  who  interested  himself  most 
charitably  and  indefatigably  for  the  good  of  these 
islands,  placed  over  it  a  slab  of  stone,  with  an  in- 
scription which  still  remains  to  tell  of  the  fine 
qualities  of  the  man  whose  dust  it  covers ;  but 
year  by  year  the  raindrops  with  delicate  touches 
wear  away  the  deeply  cut  letters,  for  the  stone 
lies  horizontal ;  even  now  they  are  scarcely  legi- 
ble, and  soon  the  words  of  praise  and  appreciation! 
3  D 


50  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

will  exist  only  in  the  memory  of  a  few  of  the  older 
inhabitants. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Tucke's  death  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  Shoals  was  at  its  height.  But  in  less 
than  thirty  years  after  his  death  a  most  woful  con- 
dition of  things  WHS  inaugurated. 

The  settlement  flourished  till  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war,  when  it  was  found  to  be  entirely  at 
the  mercy  of  the  English,  and  obliged  to  furnish 
them  with  recruits  and  supplies.  The  inhabitants 
were  therefore  ordered  by  the  government  to  quit 
the  islands;  and  as  their  trade  was  probably 
broken  up  and  their  property  exposed,  most  of 
them  complied  with  the  order,  and  settled  in  the 
neighboring  seaport  towns,  where  their  descendants 
may  be  found  to  this  day.  Some  of  the  people 
settled  in  Salem,  and  the  Mr.  White  so  mysteri- 
ously murdered  there  many  years  ago  was  born  at 
Appledore.  Those  who  remained,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions, were  among  the  most  ignorant  and  de- 
graded of  the  people,  and  they  went  rapidly  down 
into  untold  depths  of  misery.  "  They  burned  the 
meeting-house,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  quarrel- 
ling, profanity,  and  drunkenness,  till  they  became 
almost  barbarians  ";  or,  as  Mr.  Morse  expresses  it, 
"  were  given  up  to  work  all  manner  of  wickedness 
with  greediness."     In   no  place  of  the  size  has 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SEGALS.  51 

there  been  a  greater  absorption  of  "  rum "  since 
the  world  was  made.  Mr.  Reuben  Moody,  a  theo- 
logical student,  lived  at  the  Shoals  for  a  few 
months  in  the  year  1822,  and  his  description  of 
the  condition  of  things  at  that  time  is  frightful. 
He  had  no  place  to  open  a  school ;  one  of  the  isl- 
anders provided  him  with  a  room,  fire,  etc.,  giving 
as  a  reason  for  his  enthusiastic  furtherance  of  Mr. 
Moody's  plans,  that  his  children  made  such  a  dis- 
turbance at  home  that  he  couldn't  sleep  in  the 
daytime.  An  extract  from  Mr.  j\Ioody's  journal 
affords  an  idea  of  the  morals  of  the  inhabitants  at 
this  period  :  — 

"  May  P*.  I  yet  continue  to  witness  the  Heav- 
en-daring impieties  of  this  people.  Yesterday  my 
heart  was  shocked  at  seeing  a  man  about  seventy 
years  of  age,  as  devoid  of  reason  as  a  maniac,  giv- 
ing way  to  his  passions  j  striving  to  express  him- 
self in  more  blasphemous  language  than  he  had 
the  ability  to  utter ;  and,  being  unable  to  express 
the  malice  of  his  heart  in  words,  he  would  rim  at 
every  one  he  saw.  All  was  tumult  and  confusion,  — 
men  and  women  with  tar-brushes,  clenched  fists, 
and  stones ;  one  female  who  had  an  infant  but 
eight  days  old,  with  a  stone  in  her  hand  and  an 
oath  on  her  tongue,  threatened  to  dash  out  the 
brains  of  her  antagonists.  ....  After  I  ai'rived 


62  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

among  them  some  of  them  dispersed,  some  led 
their  wives  into  the  house,  others  drove  them  off, 
and  a  calm  succeeded." 

In  another  part  of  the  journal  is  an  account  of 
an  old  man  who  lived  alone  and  drank  forty  gallons 
of  rum  in  twelve  months,  —  some  horrible  old  Cali- 
ban, no  doubt.  This  hideous  madness  of  drunken- 
ness was  the  great  trouble  at  the  Shoals;  and  though 
time  has  modified,  it  has  not  eliminated  the  ap- 
parently hereditary  bane  whose  antidote  is  not  yet 
discovered.  The  misuse  of  strong  drink  still  proves 
a  whirlpool  more  awful  than  the  worst  terrors 
of  the  pitiless  ocean  that  hems  the  islanders  in. 

As  may  be  seen  from  Mr.  Moody's  journal,  the 
clergy  had  a  hard  time  of  it  among  the  heathen 
at  the  Isles  of  Shoals ;  but  they  persevered,  and 
many  brave  women  at  different  times  have  gone 
among  the  people  to  teach  the  school  and  reclaim 
the  little  children  from  wretchedness  and  igno- 
rance. Miss  Peabody,  of  Newburyport,  who  came 
to  live  with  them  in  1823,  did  wonders  for  them 
during  the  three  years  of  her  stay.  She  taught 
the  school,  visited  the  families,  and  on  Sundays 
read  to  such  audiences  as  she  could  collect,  took 
seven  of  the  poorer  female  children  to  live  with 
her  at  the  parsonage,  instructed  all  who  would 
learn  in  the  arts  of  carding,  spinning,  weaving, 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  63 

knitting,  sewing,  braiding  mats,  etc.  Truly  she 
remembered  what  "  Satan  finds  for  idle  hands  to 
do,"  and  kept  all  her  charges  busy  and  conse- 
quently happy.  All  honor  to  her  memory  !  she 
was  a  wise  and  faithful  servant.  There  is  still  an 
affectionate  remembrance  of  her  among  the  pres- 
ent inhabitants,  whose  mothers  she  helped  out  of 
their  degradation  into  a  better  life.  I  saw  in  one 
of  the  houses,  not  long  ago,  a  sampler  blackened 
by  age,  but  carefully  preserved  in  a  frame ;  and 
was  told  that  the  dead  grandmother  of  the  family 
had  made  it  when  a  little  girl,  under  Miss  Pea- 
body's  supervision.  In  1835  the  Rev.  Origen 
Smith  went  to  live  at  Star,  and  remained  perhaps 
ten  years,  doing  much  good  among  the  people. 
He  nearly  succeeded  in  banishing  the  great  de- 
moralizer, liquor,  and  restored  law  and  order.  He 
is  reverently  remembered  by  the  islanders.  In 
1855  an  excellent  man  by  the  name  of  Mason  oc- 
cupied the  post  of  minister  for  the  islanders,  and 
from  his  report  to  the  "Society  for  Propagating 
the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  and  Others  in 
North  America "  I  make  a  few  extracts.  He 
says  :  "  The  kind  of  business  which  the  people 
pursue,  and  by  which  they  subsist,  affects  unfavor. 
ably  their  habits,  physical,  social,  and  religious. 
Family   discipline  is  neglected,  domestic  arrange- 


54  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

ments  very  imperfect,  much  time,  apparently 
wasted,  is  spent  in  watching  for  favorable  indica- 
tions to  pursue  their  calling.  ....  A  bad  moral 
influence  is  excited  by  a  portion  of  the  transient 
visitors  to  the  Shoals  during  the  summer  months." 
This  is  very  true.  He  speaks  of  the  people's  ap- 
preciation of  the  efforts  made  in  their  behalf;  and 
says  that  they  raised  subscriptions  among  them- 
selves for  lighting  the  parsonage,  and  for  fuel  for 
the  singing-school  (which,  by  the  way,  was  a  most 
excellent  institution),  and  mentions  their  surprising 
him  by  putting  into  the  back  kitchen  of  the  par- 
sonage a  barrel  of  fine  flour,  a  bucket  of  sugar,  a 
leg  of  bacon,  etc.  "  Their  deep  poverty  abounded 
unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality,"  he  says ;  and 
this  little  act  shows  that  they  were  far  from  being 
indifferent  or  ungrateful.  They  were  really  at- 
tached to  Mr.  Mason,  and  it  is  a  pity  he  could  not 
have  remained  with  them. 

Within  the  last  few  years  they  have  been  trying 
bravely  to  help  themselves,  and  they  persevere 
with  their  annual  fair  to  obtain  money  to  pay  the 
teacher  who  saves  their  little  children  from  utter 
ignorance ;  and  many  of  them  show  a  growing 
ambition  in  fitting  up  their  houses  and  making 
their  families  more  comfortable.  Of  late,  the  fires 
before  referred  to,  kindled  in  drunken  madness  by 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  55 

the  islanders  themselves,  or  by  the  reckless  few 
who  have  joined  the  settlement,  have  swept  away 
nearly  all  the  old  houses,  which  have  been  re- 
placed by  smart  new  buildings,  painted  white, 
with  green  blinds,  and  with  modern  improvements, 
so  that  yearly  the  village  grows  less  picturesque,  — 
which  is  a  charm  one  can  afford  to  lose,  when  the 
external  smartness  is  indicative  of  better  living 
among  the  people.  Twenty  years  ago  Star  Island 
Cove  was  charming,  with  its  tumble-down  fish- 
houses,  and  ancient  cottages  with  low,  shelving 
roofs,  and  porches  covered  with  the  golden  lichen 
that  so  loves  to  embroider  old  weather-worn  wood. 
Now  there  is  not  a  vestige  of  those  dilapidated 
buildings  to  be  seen ;  almost  everything  is  white 
and  square  and  new ;  and  they  have  even  cleaned 
out  the  cove,  and  removed  the  great  accumulation 
of  fish-bones  which  made  the  beach  so  curious. 

The  old  town  records  are  quaint  and  interest- 
ing, and  the  spelling  and  modes  of  expression  so 
peculiar  that  I  have  copied  a  few.  Mr.  John 
Muchamore  was  the  moderator  of  a  meeting  called 
"March  ye  7th  day,  1748.  By  a  Legall  town 
meeting  of  ye  Free  holders  and  Inhabitence  of 
gosport,  dewly  quallefide  to  vote  for  Tiding  men 
CoUers  of  fish,  Corders  of  wood.  Addition  to  ye 
minister's  sallery  Mr  John  Tucke,  100  lbs  old 
tenor.  ^ 


56  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

In  1755,  it  was  "  Agred  in  town  meating  that 
if  any  person  shall  spelth  [split]  any  fish  above  hie 
water  marck  and  leave  their  heads  and  son  bones 
[sound-bones]  their,  shall  pay  ten  lbs  new  tenor  to 
the  town,  and  any  that  is  above  now  their,  they 
that  have  them  their,  shall  have  them  below  hie 
warter  in  fortinets  time  or  pay  the  same."  In 
another  place  "  it  is  agreed  at  ton  meating  evry 
person  that  is  are  kow  [has  a  cow]  shall  carry 
them  of  at  15  day  of  may,  keep  them  their  til 
the  15  day  of  October  or  pay  20  shillings  lawful 
money."  And  "  if  any  person  that  have  any  hogs, 
If  they  do  any  damg,  hom  [whom]  they  do  the 
damg  to  shall  keep  the  hog  for  sattisfaxeon." 

The  cows  seem  to  have  given  a  great  deal  of 
trouble.  Here  is  one  more  extract  on  the  sub- 
ject:— 

"  This  is  a  Leagel  vot  by  the  ton  meeting,  that 
if  any  presson  or  pressons  shall  leave  their  Gowks 
•out  after  the  fifteenth  day  of  May  and  they  do 
any  Dameg,  they  shall  be  taken  up  and  the  owner 
of  the  kow  shall  pay  teen  shillings  old  tenor  to 
the  kow  constabel  and  one  half  he  shall  have  and 
the  other  shall  give  to  the  pour  of  the  place. 

"Mr  Dainel  Kandel 

"Kow  Constaheiy 

"On  March  11*^  1762.     A  genarel  free  Voot 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  57 

past  amongst  the  inhabents  that  every  fall  of  the 
year  when  Mr  Rev^"  John  Tncke  has  his  wood  to 
Carry  home  evary  men  will  not  com  that  is  abel 
to  com  shall  pay  forty  shillings  ould  tenor." 

But  the  most  delightfully  preposterous  entry  is 
this  :  — 

''March  12*^  1769.  A  genarel  free  voot  past 
amongst  the  inhabents  to  cus  [cause]  tow  men  to 
go  to  the  Rev^  Mr  John  Tucke  to  hear  wether  he 
was  willing  to  take  one  Quental  of  fish  each  man, 
or  to  take  the  price  of  Quental  in  ould  tenor 
which  he  answered  this  that  he  thought  it  was 
easer  to  pay  the  fish  than  the  money  which  he 
consented  to  taik  the  fish  for  the  year  insuing." 

"On  March  ye  25  1771.  "then  their  was  a 
meating  called  and  it  was  gurned  until  the  23^^** 
day  of  apirel. 

*'Mr  Deeken  Willam  Muchmore 

"  Moderator. ^^ 
Among  the  "  offbrsers  "of  "  Gospored  "  were, 
besides  "  Moderator  "  and  "  Town  Clarke,"  "  See- 
lekt  meen,"  "  Counstauble,"  "  Tidon  meen"  (Tith- 
ing-men),  "  Coulears  of  fish,"  —  "  Coulear  "  mean- 
ing, I  suppose,  culler,  or  person  appointed  to 
select  fish,  —  and  "  Sealers  of  Whood^"  oftener 
expressed  corders  of  wood. 
3* 


58  AMONG   TEE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

In  1845  we  read  that  Asa  Caswell  was  chosen 
highway  "  sovair." 

Very  ancient  tradition  says  that  the  method  of 
courtship  at  the  Isles  of  Shoals  was  after  this 
fashion  :  If  a  youth  fell  in  love  with  a  maid,  he 
lay  in  wait  till  she  passed  by,  and  then  pelted 
her  with  stones,  after  the  manner  of  our  friends 
of  Marblehead ;  so  that  if  a  fair  Shoaler  found  her- 
self the  centre  of  a  volley  of  missiles,  she  might 
be  sure  that  an  ardent  admirer  was  expressing 
himself  with  decision  certainly,  if  not  with  tact ! 
If  she  turned^  and  exhibited  any  curiosity  as  to  the 
point  of  the  compass  whence  the  bombardment 
proceeded,  her  doubts  were  dispelled  by  another 
shower ;  but  if  she  went  on  her  way  in  maiden 
meditation,  then  was  her  swain  in  despair,  and  life, 
as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  became  a  burden  to  him. 

Within  my  remembrance  an  occasional  cab- 
bage-party made  an  agreeable  variety  in  the  life 
of  the  villagers.  I  never  saw  one,  but  have  heard 
them  described.  Instead  of  regaliog  the  guests 
with  wine  and  ices,  pork  and  cabbage  were  the 
principal  refreshments  offered  them;  and  if  the 
cabbage  came  out  of  the  garden  of  a  neighbor, 
the  spice  of  wickedness  lent  zest  to  the  entertain- 
ment, —  stolen  fruit  being  always  the  sweetest. 

It  would  seem  strange  that,  while  they  live  in 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  59 

SO  healthy  a  place,  where  the  atmosphere  is  abso- 
lutely perfect  in  its  purity,  they  should  have  suf- 
fered so  much  from  ill  health,  and  that  so  many 
should  have  died  of  consumption,  —  the  very  dis- 
ease for  the  cure  of  which  physicians  send  invalids 
hither.  The  reasons  are  soon  told.  The  first 
and  most  important  is  this :  that,  as  nearly  as  they 
could,  they  have  in  past  years  hermetically  sealed 
their  houses,  so  that  the  air  of  heaven  should  not 
penetrate  within.  An  open  window,  especially  at 
night,  they  would  have  looked  upon  as  madness, — 
a  temptation  of  Providence ;  and  during  the  winter 
they  have  deliberately  poisoned  themselves  with 
every  breath,  like  two  thirds  of  the  rest  of  the 
world.  I  have  seen  a  little  room  containing  a 
whole  family,  fishing-boots  and  all,  bed,  furniture, 
cooking-stove  in  full  blast,  and  an  oil  lamp  with  a 
wick  so  high  that  the  deadly  smoke  rose  steadily, 
filling  the  air  with  what  Browning  might  call 
"  filthiest  gloom,"  and  mingling  with  the  incense 
of  ancient  tobacco-pipes  smoked  by  both  sexes 
(for  nearly  all  the  old  women  used  to  smoke)  ; 
every  crack  and  cranny  was  stopped ;  and  if,  by 
any  chance,  the  door  opened  for  an  instant,  out 
rushed  a  fume  in  comparison  with  which  the  gusts 
from  the  lake  of  Tartarus  might  be  imagined 
Bweet.     Shut  in  that  deadly  air,  a  part  of  the 


60  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

family  slept,  sometimes  all.  What  wonder  that 
their  chests  were  hollow,  their  faces  haggard,  and 
that  apathy  settled  upon  them  !  Then  their  food 
was  hardly  selected  with  reference  to  health,  sal- 
eratus  and  pork  forming  two  of  the  principal  in- 
gredients in  their  daily  fare.  Within  a  few  years 
past  they  have  probably  improved  in  these  re- 
spects. Fifteen  years  ago  I  was  passing  a  window 
one  morning,  at  which  a  little  child  two  years  old 
was  sitting,  tied  into  a  high  chair  before  a  table 
drawn  close  to  the  window,  eating  his  breakfast 
alone  in  his  glory.  In  his  stout  little  fist  he 
grasped  a  large  iron  spoon,  and  fed  himself  from 
a  plate  of  beans  swimming  in  fat,  and  with  the 
pork  cut  up  in  squares  for  his  better  convenience. 
By  the  side  of  the  plate  stood  a  tin  mug  of  bitter- 
strong  black  coffee  sweetened  with  molasses.  I 
spoke  to  his  mother  within ;  "  Ar'  n't  you  afraid 
such  strong  coffee  will  kill  your  baby  1"  "0  no," 
she  answered,  and  held  it  to  his  lips.  "  There, 
drink  that,"  she  said,  "that  '11  make  you  hold 
your  head  up !  "  The  poor  child  died  before  he 
grew  to  be  a  man,  and  all  the  family  have  fallen 
victims  to  consumption. 

Very  few  of  the  old  people  are  left  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  and  the  village  is  very  like  other  fishing- 
villages  along  the   coast.     Most  of  the  peculiar 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  61 

characteristics  of  the  race  are  lost  in  the  present 
generation  of  young  women,  who  are  addicted  to 
the  use  of  hoops  and  water-falls,  and  young  men, 
who  condescend  to  spoil  their  good  looks  by  dyeing 
their  handsome  blond  beards  with  the  fashionable 
mixture  which  inevitably  produces  a  lustre  like 
stove-blacking.  But  there  are  sensible  fellows 
among  them,  fine  specimens  of  the  hardy  New 
England  fisherman,  Saxon-bearded,  broad-shoul- 
dered, deep-chested,  and  bronzed  with  shade  on 
shade  of  ruddy  brown.  The  neutral  blues  and 
grays  of  the  salt-water  make  perfect  backgrounds 
for  the  pictures  these  men  are  continually  showing 
one  in  their  life  about  the  boats.  Nothing  can  be 
more  satisfactory  than  the  blendings  and  contrasts 
of  color  and  the  picturesque  effect  of  the  general 
aspect  of  the  natives  in  their  element.  The  eye 
is  often  struck  with  the  richness  of  the  color 
of  some  rough  hand,  glowing  with  mingled  red, 
brown,  and  orange,  against  the  gray-blue  water, 
as  it  grasps  an  oar,  perhaps,  or  pulls  in  a  rope.  It 
is  strange  that  the  sun  and  wind,  which  give  such 
fine  tints  to  the  complexions  of  the  lords  of  crea- 
tion, should  leave  such  hideous  traces  on  the  faces 
of  women.  When  they  are  exposed  to  the  same 
salt  wind  and  clear  sunshine  they  take  the  hue 
of  dried  fish,   and  become  objects  for  men  and 


62  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

angels  to  weep  over.  To  see  a  bona  fide  Shoaler 
"  sail  a  boat "  (when  the  craft  is  a  real  boat  and 
no  tub)  is  an  experience.  The  vessel  obeys  hi? 
hand  at  the  rudder  as  a  trained  horse  a  touch  on 
the  rein,  and  seems  to  bow  at  the  flash  of  his 
eye,  turning  on  her  heel  and  running  up  into  the 
wind,  "  luffing  "  to  lean  again  on  the  other  tack,  — 
obedient,  graceful,  perfectly  beautiful,  yielding  to 
breeze  and  to  billow,  yet  swayed  throughout  by  a 
stronger  and  more  imperative  law.  The  men  be- 
come strongly  attached  to  their  boats,  which  seem 
to  have  a  sort  of  human  interest  for  them,  —  and 
no  wonder.  They  lead  a  life  of  the  greatest  hard- 
ship and  exposure,  during  the  winter  especially, 
setting  their  trawls  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  to  the 
eastward  of  the  islands,  drawing  them  next  day  if 
the  stormy  winds  and  waves  will  permit,  and  tak- 
ing the  fish  to  Portsmouth  to  sell.  It  is  desper- 
ately hard  work,  trawling  at  this  season,  with  the 
bitter  wind  blowing  in  their  teeth,  and  the  flying 
spray  freezing  upon  everything  it  touches,  — 
boats,  masts,  sails,  decks,  clothes  completely  cased 
in  ice,  and  fish  frozen  solid  as  soon  as  taken  from 
the  water.  The  inborn  politeness  of  these  fisher- 
men to  stranger-women  is  something  delightful  to 
witness.  I  remember  once  landing  in  Portsmouth, 
Hnd  being  obliged  to  cross  three  or  four  schooners 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  63 

just  in  (with  their  freight  of  frozen  fish  lying 
open-mouthed  in  a  solid  mass  on  deck)  to  reach 
the  wharf.  No  courtly  gentlemen  could  have  dis- 
played more  beautiful  behavior  than  did  these 
rough  fellows,  all  pressing  forward,  with  real  grace, 
—  because  the  feeling  which  prompted  them  was  a 
true  and  lofty  feeling,  —  to  help  me  over  the  tangle 
of  ropes  and  sails  and  anchors  to  a  safe  footing  on 
shore.  There  is  a  ledge  forty-five  miles  east  of 
the  islands,  called  Jefirey's  Ledge,  where  the 
Shoalers  go  for  spring  fishing.  During  a  north- 
east storm  in  May,  part  of  the  little  fleet  came 
reeling  in  before  the  gale ;  and,  not  daring  to 
trust  themselves  to  beat  up  into  the  harbor  (a 
poor  shelter  at  best),  round  the  rocky  reefs  and 
ledges,  the  fishermen  anchored  under  the  lee  of 
Appledore,  and  there  rode  out  the  storm.  They 
were  in  continual  peril;  for,  had  their  cables 
chafed  apart  with  the  shock  and  strain  of  the  bil- 
lows among  which  they  plunged,  or  had  their 
anchors  dragged  (which  might  have  been  expected, 
the  bottom  of  the  sea  between  the  islands  and 
the  mainland  being  composed  of  mud,  while  all 
outside  is  rough  and  rocky),  they  would  have  in- 
evitably been  driven  to  their  destruction  on  the 
opposite  coast.  It  was  not  pleasant  to  watch 
them  as  the  early  twilight  shut  down  over  the 


64  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

vast,  weltering  desolation  of  the  sea,  to  see  the 
slender  masts  waving  helplessly  from  one  side  to 
another,  —  sometimes  almost  horizontal,  as  the 
hulls  tui'ned  heavily  this  way  and  that,  and  the 
long  breakers  rolled  in  endless  succession  against 
them.  They  saw  the  lights  in  our  windows  a  half- 
mile  away;  and  we,  in  the  warm,  bright,  quiet  room, 
sitting  by  a  fire  that  danced  and  shone,  fed  with 
bits  of  wreck  such  as  they  might  scatter  on  Eye 
Beach  before  morning,  could  hardly  think  of  any- 
thing else  than  the  misery  of  those  poor  fellows, 
wet,  cold,  hungry,  sleepless,  full  of  anxiety  till 
the  morning  should  break  and  the  wind  should 
lull.  No  boat  could  reach  them  through  the  ter- 
rible commotion  of  waves.  But  they  rode  through 
the  night  in  safety,  and  the  morning  brought  re- 
lief One  brave  little  schooner  "  toughed  it  out " 
on  the  distant  ledge,  and  her  captain  told  me  that 
no  one  could  stand  on  board  of  her ;  the  pressure 
of  the  wind  down  on  her  decks  was  so  great  that 
she  shuddered  from  stem  to  stern,  and  he  feared 
she  would  shake  to  pieces,  for  she  was  old  and  not 
very  seaworthy.  Some  of  the  men  had  wives  and 
children  watching  them  from  lighted  windows  at 
Star.  What  a  fearful  night  for  them  !  They  could 
not  tell  from  hour  to  hour,  through  the  thick 
darkness,  if  yet  the  cables  held ;  they  could  not 


AMONG  THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  65 

Bee  till  daybreak  whether  the  sea  had  swallowed 
up  their  treasures.  I  wonder  the  wives  were  not 
white-haired  when  the  sun  rose,  and  showed  them 
those  little  specks  yet  rolling  in  the  breakers ! 
The  women  are  excessively  timid  about  the  water, 
more  so  than  landswomen.  Having  the  terror  and 
might  of  the  ocean  continually  encircling  them, 
they  become  more  impressed  with  it  and  distrust 
it,  knowing  it  so  well.  Very  few  accidents  happen, 
however  :  the  islanders  are  a  cautious  people.  Years 
ago,  when  the  white  sails  of  their  little  fleet  of 
whale-boats  used  to  flutter  out  of  the  sheltered 
bight  and  stand  out  to  the  fishing-grounds  in  the 
bay,  how  many  eyes  followed  them  in  the  early 
light,  and  watched  them  in  the  distance  through 
the  day,  till,  toward  sunset,  they  spread  their  wings 
to  fly  back  with  the  evening  wind  !  How  pathetic 
the  gathering  of  women  on  the  headlands,  when 
out  of  the  sky  swept  the  squall  that  sent  the 
small  boats  staggering  before  it,  and  blinded  the 
eyes,  already  drowned  in  tears,  with  sudden  rain 
that  hid  sky  and  sea  and  boats  from  their  eager 
gaze  !  What  wringing  of  hands,  what  despairing 
cries,  which  the  wild  wind  bore  away  while  it 
ca.ughi&  and  fluttered  the  homely  draperies  and 
unfastened  the  locks  of  maid  and  mother,  to  blow 
them  about  their  pale  faces  and  anxious  eyes ! 

E 


66  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

Now  no  longer  the  little  fleet  goes  forth  ;  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  islanders  have  stout  schooners, 
and  go  trawling  with  profit,  if  not  with  pleasure. 
A  few  solitaries  fish  in  small  dories  and  earn  a 
slender  livelihood  thereby. 

The  sea  helps  these  poor  people  by  bringing 
fuel  to  their  very  doors ;  the  waves  continually 
deposit  driftwood  in  every  fissure  of  the  rocks. 
But  sad,  anxious  lives  they  have  led,  especially 
the  women,  many  of  whom  have  grown  old  before 
their  time  with  hard  work  and  bitter  cares,  with 
hewing  of  wood  and  drawing  of  water,  turning  of 
fish  on  the  flakes  to  dry  in  the  sun,  endless  house- 
hold work,  and  the  cares  of  maternity,  while  their 
lords  lounged  about  the  rocks  in  their  scarlet 
shirts  in  the  sun,  or  "  held  up  the  walls  of  the 
meeting-house,"  as  one  expressed  it,  with  their 
brawny  shoulders.  I  never  saw  such  wrecks  of 
humanity  as  some  of  the  old  women  of  Star 
Island,  who  have  long  since  gone  to  their  rest.  In 
my  childhood  I  caught  glimpses  of  them  occa- 
sionally, their  lean  brown  shapes  crouching  over 
the  fire,  with  black  pipes  in  their  sunken  mouths, 
and  hollow  eyes,  "  of  no  use  now  but  to  gather 
brine,"  and  rough,  gray,  straggling  locks  :  despoiled 
and  hopeless  visions,  it  seemed  as  if  youth  and  joy 
«ould  never  have  been  theirs. 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  67 

A  WOMAN  OF  STAR  ISLAND. 
Isles  of  Shoals,  1844. 

Over  the  embers  she  sits, 

Close  at  the  edge  of  the  gi-ave, 
With  her  hollow  eyes  like  pits. 

And  her  mouth  like  a  sunken  care. 

Her  short  black  pipe  held  tight 

Her  withered  lips  between, 
She  rocks  in  the  flickering  light 

Her  figure  bent  and  lean. 

She  turns  the  fish  no  more 

That  dry  on  the  flakes  in  the  sun; 
No  wood  she  drags  to  the  door. 

Nor  water,  —  her  labor  is  done. 

She  cares  not  for  oath  or  blow, 

She  is  past  all  hope  or  fear  ; 
There  is  nothing  she  cares  to  know, 

There  is  nothing  hateful  or  dear. 

Deep  wrong  have  the  bitter  years 

Wrought  her,  both  body  and  soul. 
Life  has  been  seasoned  with  tears ; 

But  saw  not  God  the  whole  ? 

0  wreck  in  woman's  shape! 

Were  you  ever  gi-acious  and  sweet? 
Did  youth's  enchantment  drape 

This  horror,  from  head  to  feet  ? 

Have  dewy  eyes  looked  out 

From  these  hollow  pits  forlorn? 
Played  smiles  the  mouth  about 

Of  shy,  still  rapture  bornV 


68  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

Yea,  once.    But  long  ago 

Has  evil  ground  away 
All  beauty.     The  salt  winds  blow 

On  no  sorrier  sight  to-day. 

Trodden  utterly  out 

Is  every  spark  of  hope. 
There  is  only  left  her,  a  doubt, 

A  gesture,  half-conscious,  a  grope 

In  the  awful  dark  for  a  Touch 

That  never  yet  failed  a  soul. 
Is  not  God  tender  to  such  V 

Hath  he  not  seen  the  whole  ? 

The  local  pronunciation  of  the  Shoalers  is  very 
peculiar,  and  a  shrewd  sense  of  humor  is  one  of 
their  leading  characteristics.  Could  De  Quincey 
have  lived  among  them,  I  think  he  might  have 
been  tempted  to  write  an  essay  on  swearing  as  a 
fine  art,  for  it  has  reached  a  pitch  hardly  short  of 
sublimity  in  this  favored  spot.  They  seemed  to 
have  a  genius  for  it,  and  some  of  them  really 
devoted  their  best  powers  to  its  cultivation.  The 
language  was  taxed  to  furnish  them  with  prodigious 
forms  of  speech  wherewith  to  express  the  slightest 
emotion  of  pain,  anger,  or  amusement ;  and  though 
the  blood  of  the  listener  was  sometimes  chilled  in 
his  veins,  overhearing  their  unhesitating  profanity, 
the  prevailing  sentiment  was  likely  to  be  one  of 
ftmazemept  mingled  with  intense   amusement,  — • 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  69 

the  whole  thing  was  so  grotesque  and  monstrous, 
and  their  choice  of  words  so  comical,  and  gener- 
ally so  very  much  to  the  point. 

The  real  Shoals  phraseology  existing  in  past 
years  was  something  not  to  be  described ;  it  is 
impossible  by  any  process  known  to  science  to 
convey  an  idea  of  the  intonations  of  their  speech, 
quite  different  from  Yankee  drawl  or  sailor-talk, 
and  perfectly  unique  in  itself.  Why  they  should 
have  called  a  swallow  a  "  swallick  "  and  a  sparrow 
a  "  sparrick  "  I  never  could  understand ;  or  what 
they  mean  by  calling  a  great  gale  or  tempest  a 
"  Tan  toaster."  Anything  that  ends  in  y  or  e  they 
still  pronounce  ai/  with  great  breadth ;  for  instance, 
"Benny"  is  Bennaye ;  "Billy"  Billay,  and  so  on. 
A  man  by  the  name  of  Beebe,  the  modern  "  mis- 
sionary," was  always  spoken  of  as  Beebay,  when 
he  was  not  called  by  a  less  respectful  title.  Their 
sense  of  fun  showed  itself  in  the  nicknames  with 
which  they  designated  any  person  possessing  the 
slightest  peculiarity.  For  instance,  twenty  years 
ago  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  persuasion  came 
to  live  among  them  ;  his  wife  was  unreasonably 
tall  and  thin.  With  the  utmost  promptitude  and 
decision  the  irreverent  christened  her  "  Legs,"  and 
never  spoke  of  her  by  any  other  name.  "  Laigs 
has  gone  to  Portsmouth,"  or  "  Laigs  has  got  a 


70  AMONG    TEE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

new  gown,"  etc.  A  spinster  of  very  dark  com- 
plexion was  called  "  Scip,"  an  abbreviation  of 
Scipio,  a  name  supposed  to  appertain  particularly 
to  the  colored  race.  Another  was  called  "  Squint," 
because  of  a  defect  in  the  power  of  vision ;  and 
not  only  were  they  spoken  of  by  these  names, 
but  called  so  to  their  faces  habitually.  One  man 
earned  for  himself  the  title  of  "  Brag,"  so  that 
no  one  ever  thought  of  calling  him  by  his  real 
name ;  his  wife  was  Mrs.  Brag ;  and  constant  use 
so  robbed  these  names  of  their  ofFensiveness  that 
the  bearers  not  only  heard  them  with  equanimity, 
but  would  hardly  have  known  themselves  by  their 
true  ones.  A  most  worthy  Norwegian  took  up  his 
abode  for  a  brief  space  among  them  a  few  years 
ago.  His  name  was  Ingebertsen.  Now,  to  expect 
any  Shoaler  would  trouble  himself  to  utter  such 
a  name  as  that  was  beyond  all  reason.  At  once 
they  called  him  "  Carpenter,"  apropos  of  nothing 
at  all,  for  he  never  had  been  a  carpenter.  But 
the  name  was  the  first  that  occurred  to  them,  and 
sufficiently  easy  of  utterance.  It  was  "Carpen- 
ter," and  "Mis'  Carpenter,"  and  "them  Carpenter 
children,"  and  the  name  still  clings  to  fine  old 
Ingebertsen  and  his  family.  Grandparents  are 
addressed  as  Grans  and  Gwammaye,  Grans  being 
an   abbreviation  of  grandsire.     "  Tell  yer   grans 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  71 

his  dinner's  ready,"  calls  some  woman  from  a  cot' 
tage  door.  One  old  man,  too  lazy  almost  to  live^ 
was  called  "  Hing  "  ;  one  of  two  brothers  "  Bunker,'" 
the  other  "  Shothead  " ;  an  ancient  scold  was  called 
"  Zeke,"  another  "  Sir  Polly,"  and  so  on  indefi- 
nitely. In  pleasant  weather  sometimes  the  younger 
women  would  paddle  from  one  island  to  another 
"  making  calls."  If  any  old  "  Grans  "  perceived 
them,  loafing  at  his  door  in  the  sun,  "  It 's  going 
to  storm !  the  women  begin  to  flit  !  "  he  would 
cry,  as  if  they  were  a  flock  of  coots.  A  woman, 
describing  how  slightly  her  house  was  put  together, 
said,  "  Lor',  't  wan't  never  built,  't  was  only  hove  to- 
gether." "  I  don'  know  whe'r  or  no  it's  best  or  no 
to  go  fishin'  whiles  mornin',"  says  some  rough  fel- 
low, meditating  upon  the  state  of  winds  and  waters. 
Of  his  boat  another  says  with  pride,  "Site's  a 
pretty  piece  of  wood  !  "  and  another,  ''  She  strikes 
a  sea  and  comes  down  like  a  pillow,"  describing 
her  smooth  sailing.  Some  one,  relating  the  way 
the  civil  authorities  used  to  take  political  matters 
into  their  own  hands,  said  that  "  if  a  man  did  n't 
vote  as  they  wanted  him  to,  they  took  him  and 
hove  him  up  agin  the  meetin'  us,"  by  way  of  bring 
ing  him  to  his  senses.  Two  boys  in  bitter  conten- 
tion have  been  heard  calling  each  other  "  nasty- 
faced  chowderheads,"  as  if  the  force  of  language 


72  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

could  no  further  go.  *'  I  'm  dryer  than  a  graven 
image,"  a  man  says  when  he  is  thirsty.  But  it  is 
impossible  to  give  an  idea  of  their  common  speech 
leaving  out  the  profanity  which  makes  it  so  start- 
ling. 

Some  comical  stories  are  told  of  the  behavior  of 
officers  of  the  law  in  certain  emergencies.  On 
one  occasion  two  men  attacked  each  other  in  the 
cove  which  served  as  the  Plaza,  the  grand  square 
of  the  village,  the  general  lounging-place.  A 
comrade  in  a  state  of  excitement  ran  to  inform  the 
one  policeman,  who  straightway  repaired  to  the 
scene  of  battle.  There  were  the  combatants  raging 
like  wild  beasts,  while  the  whole  community  looked 
on  aghast.  What  was  to  be  done  1  Evidently 
something,  and  at  once.  The  policeman  looked 
about  him,  considering.  As  for  interfering  with 
that  fearful  twain,  it  was  out  of  the  question. 
His  eye  fell  upon  a  poor  old  man  who  leaned 
against  a  fish-house  enjoying  the  scene.  A  happy 
thought  struck  him  !  He  dashed  down  upon  the 
ancient  and  unoffending  spectator,  and  hurled  him 
to  the  ground  with  such  force  that  he  broke  his 
collar-bone.  Then,  I  suppose,  he  retired,  serene 
in  the  proud  consciousness  of  having  done  his 
duty,  and  of  having  been  fully  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion. 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  73 

Two  of  the  chief  magistrates  of  the  place  had 
a  deadly  feud,  entirely  personal,  which  had  smoul- 
dered between  them  for  years.  One  day  the 
stronger  of  the  two  quietly  "  arrested  "  the  weaker, 
tied  him  hand  and  foot  with  ropes,  "  hove "  him 
into  his  whale-boat,  and  sailed  off  with  him  in  tri- 
umph to  the  land.  Arrived  at  the  city  of  Ports- 
mouth, he  conducted  him  to  jail,  delivered  him 
over  to  the  jailer  with  much  satisfaction,  crying, 
"  There  !  There  he  is  !  Take  him  and  lock  him 
up  !  He 's  a  poor  pris'ner.  Don't  you  give  him 
nothin'  t'  eat ! "  and  returned  rejoicing  to  the  bosom 
of  his  family.  It  being  Thanksgiving  Day,  the 
jailer  is  said  to  have  taken  the  prisoner  at  once 
into  his  house,  and,  instead  of  locking  him  up, 
gave  him,  according  to  his  own  account,  "  one  of 
the  best  Thanksgiving  dinners  he  ever  ate." 

Nearly  all  the  Shoalers  have  a  singukr  gait, 
contracted  from  the  effort  to  keep  their  equilibri- 
um while  standing  in  boats,  and  from  the  unavoid- 
able gymnastics  which  any  attempt  at  locomotion 
among  the  rocks  renders  necessary.  Some  stiff- 
jointed  old  men  have  been  known  to  leap  wildly 
from  broad  stone  to  stone  on  the  smooth,  flat 
pavements  of  Portsmouth  town,  finding  it  out  of 
the  question  to  walk  evenly  and  decorously  along 
the  straight  and  easy  way.  This  is  no  fable. 
4 


74  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SEOALS. 

Such  is  the  force  of  habit.  Most  of  the  men  are 
more  or  less  round-shouldered,  and  seldom  row 
upright,  with  head  erect  and  shoulders  thrown 
back.  They  stoop  so  much  over  the  fish-tables  — 
cleaning,  splitting,  salting,  packing  —  that  they 
acquire  a  permanent  habit  of  stooping. 

Twenty  years  ago,  an  old  man  by  the  name  of 
Peter  was  alive  on  Star  Island.  He  was  said  to 
be  a  hundred  years  old  ;  and  anything  more  grisly, 
in  the  shape  of  humanity,  it  has  never  been  my 
lot  to  behold ;  so  lean  and  brown  and  ancient, 
he  might  have  been  Methuselah,  for  no  one  knew 
how  long  he  had  lived  on  this  rolling  planet. 
Years  before  he  died  he  used  to  paddle  across  to 
our  lighthouse,  in  placid  summer  days,  and,  scan- 
ning him  with  a  child's  curiosity,  I  wondered 
how  he  kept  alive.  A  few  white  hairs  clung  to 
his  yellow  crown,  and  his  pale  eyes,  "  where  the 
very  blue  had  turned  to  white,"  looked  vacantly 
and  wearily  out,  as  if  trying  faintly  to  see  the  end 
of  the  things  of  this  world.  Somebody,  probably 
old  Nabbaye,  in  whose  cottage  he  lived,  always 
scoured  him  with  soft  soap  before  he  started  on 
his  voyage,  and  in  consequence  a  most  preter- 
natural shine  overspread  his  blank  forehead.  His 
under  jaw  had  a  disagreeably  suggestive  habit  of 
dropping,  he  was  so  feeble  and  so  old,  poor  wretch  1 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  75 

Yet  would  he  brighten  with  a  faint  attempt  at  a 
smile  when  bread  and  meat  were  put  into  his 
hands,  and  say,  over  and  over  again,  "Ye 're  a 
Christian,  ma'am ;  thank  ye,  ma'am,  thank  ye," 
thrust  all  that  was  given  him,  no  matter  what,  be- 
tween his  one  upper  garment  —  a  checked  shirt  — 
and  his  bare  skin,  and  then,  by  way  of  expressing 
his  gratitude,  would  strike  up  a  dolorous  quaver 
of— 

*'  Over  the  water  and  over  the  lea 
And  over  the  water  to  Charlie," 

in  a  voice  as  querulous  as  a  Scotch  bagpipe. 

Old  Nabbaye,  and  Bennaye,  her  husband,  with 
whom  Peter  lived,  were  a  queer  old  couple.  Nab- 
baye had  a  stubbly  and  unequal  growth  of  sparse 
gray  hair  upon  her  chin,  which  gave  her  a  most 
grim  and  terrible  aspect,  as  I  remember  her,  with 
the  grizzled  locks  standing  out  about  her  head  like 
one  of  the  Furies.  Yet  she  was  a  good  enough 
old  woman,  kind  to  Peter  and  Bennaye,  and  kept 
her  bit  of  a  cottage  tidy  as  might  be.  I  well  re- 
member the  grit  of  the  shining  sand  on  her  scoured 
floor  beneath  my  childish  footsteps.  The  family 
climbed  at  night  by  a  ladder  up  into  a  loft,  which 
their  little  flock  of  fowls  shared  with  them,  to 
sleep.  Going  by  the  house  one  evening,  some  one 
heard  Nabbaye  call  aloud  to  Bennaye  up  aloft, 


76  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

**Come,  Bennaye,  fetch  me  down  them  heens^ 
aigs  ! "  To  which  Bennaye  made  answer,  "  I  can't 
find  no  aigs  !  I  've  looked  een  the  bed  and  een  un- 
der the  bed,  and  I  can't  find  no  aigs ! " 

Till  Bennaye  grew  very  feeble,  every  summer 
night  he  paddled  abroad  in  his  dory  to  fish  for 
hake,  and  lonely  he  looked,  tossing  among  the 
waves,  when  our  boat  bore  down  and  passed  him 
with  a  hail  which  he  faintly  returned,  as  we 
plunged  lightly  through  the  track  of  the  moon- 
light, young  and  happy,  rejoicing  in  the  beauty  of 
the  night,  while  poor  Bennaye  only  counted  his 
gains  in  the  grisly  hake  he  caught,  nor  considered 
the  rubies  the  lighthouse  scattered  on  the  waves, 
or  how  the  moon  sprinkled  down  silver  before  him. 
He  did  not  mind  the  touch  of  the  balmy  wind 
that  blew  across  his  weather-beaten  face  with  the 
same  sweet  greeting  that  so  gladdened  us,  but 
fished  and  fished,  watching  his  line  through  the 
short  summer  night,  and,  when  a  blush  of  dawn 
stole  up  in  the  east  among  the  stars,  wound  up  his 
tackle,  took  his  oars,  and  paddled  home  to  Nab- 
baye  with  his  booty,  —  his  "  fare  of  fish  "  as  the 
natives  have  it.  Hake-fishing  after  this  pictur- 
esque and  tedious  fashion  is  done  away  with  now ; 
the  islands  are  girdled  with  trawls,  which  catch 
more  fish  in  one  night  than  could  be  obtained  in  a 
Week's  hard  labor  by  hand. 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  77 

When  the  dust  of  Bennaye  and  Nabbaye  was 
mino-led  in  the  thin  earth  that  scarce  can  cover 
the  multitude  of  the  dead  on  Star  Island,  a 
youthful  couple,  in  whom  I  took  great  interest, 
occupied  their  little  house.  The  woman  was  re- 
markably handsome,  with  a  beautiful  head  and 
masses  of  rich  black  hair,  a  face  regular  as  the 
face  of  a  Greek  statue,  with  eyes  that  sparkled 
and  cheeks  that  glowed,  —  a  beauty  she  soon  ex- 
changed for  haggard  and  hollow  looks.  As  their 
children  were  born  they  asked  my  advice  on  the 
christening  of  each,  and,  being  youthful  and  ro- 
mantic, I  suggested  Frederick  as  a  sounding  title 
for  the  first-born  boy.  Taylor  being  the  reigning 
President,  his  name  was  instantly  added,  and  the 
child  was  always  addressed  by  his  whole  name. 
Going  by  the  house  one  day,  my  ears  were  assailed 
by  a  sharp  outcry :  "  Frederick  Taylor,  if  you 
don't  come  into  the  house  this  minute,  I  '11  slat 
your  head  off ! "  The  tender  mother  borrowed 
her  expression  from  the  fishermen,  who  disengage 
mackerel  and  other  delicate-gilled  fish  by  "slat- 
ting "  them  off  the  hook. 

All  this  family  have  gone,  and  the  house  in 
which  they  lived  has  fallen  to  ruin ;  only  the  cel- 
lar remains,  just  such  a  rude  hoU:)w  as  those  scat- 
tered over  Appledore. 


78  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

The  people  along  the  coast  rather  look  down 
upon  the  Shoalers  as  being  beyond  the  bounds  of 
civilization.  A  young  islander  was  expressing  his 
opinion  on  some  matter  to  a  native  of  Rye,  who 
answered  him  with  great  scorn  :  "  You  don't  know 
nothin'  about  it !  What  do  you  know  *?  You  never 
see  an  apple-tree  all  blowed  out."  A  Shoaler, 
walking  with  some  friends  along  a  road  in  Rye, 
excited  inextinguishable  laughter  by  clutching  his 
companion's  sleeve  as  a  toad  hopped  innocently 
across  the  way,  and  crying :  "  Mr,  Berraye,  what 
kind  of  a  bug  do  you  call  that  %  D — d  if  I  ever 
see  such  a  bug  as  that,  Mr.  Berraye  ! "  in  a  comi- 
cal terror.  There  are  neither  frogs  nor  toads  at 
the  Shoals.  "Set  right  down  and  help  your- 
selves," said  an  old  fellow  at  whose  door  some 
guests  from  the  Shoals  appeared  at  dinner-time. 
"  Eat  all  you  can.  I  ain't  got  no  manners ;  the 
girl 's  got  the  manners,  and  she  ain't  to  hum." 

One  old  Shoaler,  long  since  gone  to  another 
world,  was  a  laughable  and  curious  character. 
A  man  more  wonderfidly  fulfilling  the  word 
"  homely  "  in  the  Yankee  sense,  I  never  saw.  He 
had  the  largest,  most  misshapen  cheek-bones  ever 
constructed,  an  illimitable  upper  lip,  teeth  that 
should  not  be  mentioned,  and  small,  watery  eyes. 
Skin  and  hair  and  eyes  and  mouth  were  of  the 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  79 

same  pasty  yellow,  and  that  grotesque  head  was 
set  on  a  little,  thin,  and  shambling  body.  He  used 
to  be  head  singer  at  the  church,  and  "  pitched  the 
tune  "  by  whistling  when  the  parson  had  read  the 
hymn.  Then  all  who  could  joined  in  the  singing, 
which  must  have  been  remarkable,  to  say  the  least. 
So  great  a  power  of  brag  is  seldom  found  in  one 
human  being  as  that  which  permeated  him  from 
top  to  toe,  and  found  vent  in  stories  of  personal 
prowess  and  bravery  unexampled  in  history.  He 
used  to  tell  a  story  of  his  encounter  with  thirteen 
*'  Spanish  grandeers "  in  New  Orleans,  he  having 
been  a  sailor  a  great  part  of  his  life.  He  was  in- 
nocently peering  into  a  theatre,  when  the  "  gran- 
deers "  fell  upon  him  out  of  the  exceeding  pride  of 
their  hearts.  "  Wall,  sir,  I  turned,  and  I  laid  six 
o'  them  grandeers  to  the  right  and  seven  to  the 
left,  and  then  I  put  her  for  the  old  brig,  and  I 
heerd  no  more  on  'em  !  " 

He  considered  himself  unequalled  as  a  musi- 
cian, and  would  sing  you  ballad  after  ballad,  sit- 
ting bent  forward  with  his  arms  on  his  knees, 
and  his  wrinkled  eyelids  screwed  tight  together, 
grinding  out  the  tune  with  a  quiet  steadiness  of 
purpose  that  seemed  to  betoken  no  end  to  his  ca- 
pacities. Ballads  of  love  and  of  war  he  sang,  — 
the  exploits  of  "  Brave  Wolf,"'  or,  as  he  pronounced 


80  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

it,  "Brahn  Wolf,"  and  one  famous  song  of  a 
naval  battle,  of  which  only  two  lines  remain  in 
my  memory  :  — 

"  With  sixteen  brass  nineteens  the  Lion  did  gi'owl, 
With  nineteen  brass  twenties  the  Tiger  did  howl." 

At  the  close  of  each  verse  he  invariably  dropped 
his  voice,  and  said,  instead  of  sung,  the  last  word, 
which  had  a  most  abrupt  and  surprising  effect,  to 
which  a  listener  never  could  become  accustomed. 
The  immortal  ballad  of  Lord  Bateman  he  had  re- 
modelled with  beautiful  variations  of  his  own. 
The  name  of  the  coy  maiden,  the  Turk's  only 
daughter,  Sophia,  was  Susan  Fryan,  according  to 
his  version,  and  Lord  Bateman  was  metamorphosed 
into  Lord  Bakum.  When  Susan  Fryan  crosses 
the  sea  to  Lord  Bakum's  castle  and  knocks  so  loud 
that  the  gates  do  ring,  he  makes  the  bold  young 
porter,  who  was  so  ready  for  to  let  her  in,  go  to 
his  master,  who  sits  feasting  with  a  new  bride,  and 
say  :  — 

"  Seven  long  years  have  I  tended  your  gate,  sir, 
Seven  long  3-ears  out  of  twenty-three, 
But  so  fair  a  creetur  as  now  stands  waitin' 
Never  before  with  my  eyes  did  see. 

"  0,  she  has  rings  on  every  finger, 

And  round  her  middle  if  she'  s  one  she  has  three  ; 
O,  I  'm  sure  she's  got  more  good  gold  about  her 
Thau  would  buy  your  bride  and  her  companiel  " 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  81 

The  enjoyment  with  which  he  gave  this  song  was 

delightful  to  witness.     Of  the  many  he  used  to 

sing,  one  was  a  doleful  story  of  how  a  youth  of 

high  degree  fell  in  love  with   his  mother's  fair 

waiting-woman,   Betsy,   who  was  in  consequence 

immediately  transported  to    foreign  lands.     But 

alas  for  her  lover  !  — 

"  Then  he  fell  sick  and  like  to  have  died ; 
His  mother  round  his  sick-bed  cried, 
But  all  her  crying  it  was  in  vain, 
For  Betsy  was  a-ploughing  the  raging  main!  " 

The  word  "  main  "  was  brought  out  with  startling 

effect.     Another  song  about  a  miller  and  his  sons 

I  only  half  remember  :  — 

"  The  miller  he  called  his  oldest  son, 
Saying,  '  Now  my  glass  it  is  almost  run, 
If  I  to  you  the  mill  relate. 
What  toll  do  you  resign  to  take  ? ' 

"  The  son  replied :  '  My  name  is  Jack, 
And  out  of  a  bushel  I  '11  take  a  peck.' 
*  Go,  go,  you  fool ! '  the  old  man  cried, 
And  called  the  next  to  his  bedside. 

"  The  second  said:  '  My  name  is  Ralph, 
And  out  of  a  bushel  I  '11  take  a  half 
'  Go,  go,  you  fool ! '  the  old  man  cried, 
And  called  the  next  to  his  bedside. 

"  The  youngest  said:  "  My  name  is  Paul, 
And  out  of  a  bushel  I  '11  take  it  all ! ' 
'  You  are  my  sonl '  the  old  man  cried. 
And  shot  up  his  eyes  and  died  in  peace." 


i<o7oG 


82  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

The  manner  in  which  this  last  verse  was  delivered 
was  inimitable,  the  "  died  in  peace  "  being  spoken 
with  great  satisfaction.  The  singer  had  an  ancient 
no] in,  which  he  used  to  hug  under  his  wizened 
chin,  and  from  which  he  drew  such  dismal  tones 
as  never  before  were  heard  on  sea  or  land.  He 
had  no  more  idea  of  playing  than  one  of  the  cod- 
fish he  daily  split  and  salted,  yet  he  christened 
with  pride  all  the  shrieks  and  wails  he  drew  out 
of  the  wretched  instrument  with  various  high- 
sounding  titles.  After  he  had  entertained  his  au- 
dience for  a  while  with  these  aimless  sounds,  he 
was  wont  to  say,  ''  Wall,  now  I  '11  give  yer  Prince 
Esterhazy's  March,"  and  forthwith  began  again 
precisely  the  same  intolerable  squeak. 

After  he  died,  other  stars  in  the  musical  world 
appeared  in  the  horizon,  but  none  equalled  him. 
They  all  seemed  to  think  it  necessary  to  shut 
their  eyes  and  squirm  like  nothing  human  during 
the  process  of  singing  a  song,  and  they  "  pitched 
the  tune  "  so  high  that  no  human  voice  ever  could 
hope  to  reach  it  in  safety.  "  Tew  high,  Bill,  tew 
high,"  one  would  say  to  the  singer,  with  slow 
solemnity ;  so  Bill  tried  again.  "  Tew  high  again, 
Bill,  tew  high."  "  WuU,  you  strike  it,  Obed,"  Bill 
would  say  in  despair ;  and  Obed  would  "  strike,'* 
and    hit    exactly   the   same   impossible    altitude^ 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  83 

whereat  Bill  would  slap  his  knee,  and  cry  in  glad 
surprise,  "  D — d  if  he  ain't  got  it ! "  and  forth- 
with catch  Obed  and  launch  on  his  perilous  flight, 
and  grow  red  in  the  face  with  the  mighty  effort 
of  getting  up  there,  and  remaining  there  through 
the  intricacies  and  variations  of  the  melody.  One 
could  but  wonder  whence  these  queer  tunes  came, 
—  how  they  were  created  ;  some  of  them  reminded 
one  of  the  creaking  and  groaning  of  windlasses  and 
masts,  the  rattling  of  rowlocks,  the  whistling  of 
winds  among  cordage,  yet  with  less  of  music  in 
them  than  these  natural  sounds.  The  songs  of  the 
sailors  heaving  up  the  anchor  are  really  beautiful 
often,  the  wild  chant  that  rises  sometimes  into  a 
gi-and  chorus,  all  the  strong  voices  borne  out  on 
the  wind  in  the  cry  of 

"  Yo  ho,  the  roaring  river! " 

But  these  Shoals  performances  are  lacking  in  any 
charm,  except  that  of  the  broadest  fun. 

The  process  of  dunning,  which  made  the  Shoals 
fish  so  famous  a  centmy  ago,  is  almost  a  lost  art, 
though  the  chief  fisherman  at  Star  still  "  duns  "  a 
few  yearly.  A  real  dunfish  is  handsome,  cut  in 
transparent  strips,  the  color  of  brown  sherry 
wine.  The  process  is  a  tedious  one  :  the  fish  are 
piled  in  the  storehouse  and  undergo  a  period  of 


84  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

"  sweating  "  after  the  first  drying,  then  are  carried 
out  into  sun  and  wind,  dried  again  slightly,  and 
again  piled  in  the  warehouse,  and  so  on  till  the 
process  is  complete.  Drying  fish  in  the  common 
fashion  is  more  difficult  than  might  be  imagined  : 
it  is  necessary  to  watcli  and  tend  them  continually 
as  they  lie  on  the  picturesque  ''  flakes,"  and  if  they 
are  exposed  at  too  early  a  stage  to  a  sun  too  hot 
they  burn  as  surely  as  a  loaf  of  bread  in  an  intem- 
perate oven,  only  the  burning  does  not  crisp,  but 
liquefies  their  substance. 

For  the  last  ten  years  fish  have  been  caught 
about  the  Shoals  by  trawl  and  seine  in  such  quan- 
tities that  they  are  thinning  fast,  and  the  trade 
bids  fair  to  be  much  less  lucrative  before  many 
years  have  elapsed.  The  process  of  drawing  the 
trawl  is  very  picturesque  and  interesting,  watched 
from  the  rocks  or  from  the  boat  itself.  The  buoy 
being  drawn  in,  then  follow  the  baited  hooks  one 
after  another.  First,  perhaps,  a  rockling  shows  his 
bright  head  above  water ;  a  pull,  and  in  he  comes 
flapping,  with  brilliant  red  fins  distended,  gaping 
mouth,  indigo-colored  eyes,  and  richly  mottled 
skin :  a  few  futile  somersets,  and  he  subsides  into 
slimy  dejection.  Next,  perhaps,  a  big  whelk  is 
tossed  into  the  boat ;  then  a  leaden-gray  had- 
dock, with  its  dark  stripe  of  color  on  each  sidej 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  85 

then,  perhaps,  follow  a  few  bare  hooks;  then  a 
hake,  with  horrid,  cavernous  mouth ;  then  a  large 
purple  star-fish,  or  a  clattering  crab ;  then  a  ling, 
—  a  yellow-brown,  wide-mouthed  piece  of  ugliness 
never  eaten  here,  but  highly  esteemed  on  the 
coast  of  Scotland ;  then  more  cod  or  haddock,  or 
perhaps  a  lobster,  bristling  with  indignation  at  the 
novel  situation  in  which  he  finds  himself;  then 
a  cask,  long,  smooth,  compact,  and  dark ;  then  a 
catfish.  Of  all  fiends  commend  me  to  the  catfish 
as  the  most  fiendish  !  Black  as  night,  with  thick 
and  hideous  skin,  which  looks  a  dull,  mouldy 
green  beneath  the  water,  a  head  shaped  as  much 
like  a  cat's  as  a  fish's  head  can  be,  in  which  the 
devil's  own  eyes  seem  to  glow  with  a  dull,  mali- 
cious gleam,  —  and  such  a  mouth  !  What  terrible 
expressions  these  cold  creatures  carry  to  and  fro 
in  the  vast,  dim  spaces  of  the  sea !  All  fish  have 
a  more  or  less  imbecile  and  wobegone  aspect ;  but 
this  one  looks  absolutely  evil,  and  Schiller  might 
well  say  of  him  that  he  "  grins  through  the  gi'ate 
of  his  spiky  teeth,"  and  sharp  and  deadly  are  they ; 
every  man  looks  out  for  his  boots  when  a  catfish 
comes  tumbling  in,  for  they  bite  through  leather, 
flesh,  and  bones.  They  seize  a  ballast-stone  be- 
tween their  jaws,  and  their  teeth  snap  and  fly  in 
all  directions.     I  have  seen  them  bite  the  long 


86  AMONG  THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

blade  of  a  sharp  knife  so  fiercely,  that,  when  it 
was  lifted  and  held  aloft,  they  kept  their  furious 
gripe,  and  dangled,  flapping  all  their  clumsy 
weight,  hanging  by  their  teeth  to  the  blade. 
Sculpins  abound,  and  are  a  nuisance  on  the 
trawls.  Ugly  and  grotesque  as  are  the  full-grown 
fish,  there  is  nothing  among  the  finny  tribe  more 
dainty,  more  quaint  and  delicate,  than  the  baby 
sculpin.  Sometimes  in  a  pool  of  crystal  water 
one  comes  upon  him  unawares,  —  a  fairy  creature, 
the  color  of  a  blush-rose,  striped  and  freaked  and 
pied  with  silver  and  gleaming  gi'een,  hanging  in 
the  almost  invisible  water  as  a  bird  in  air,  with 
broad,  transparent  fins  suffused  with  a  faint  pink 
color,  stretched  wide  like  wings  to  upbear  the 
supple  form.  The  curious  head  is  only  strange, 
not  hideous  as  yet,  and  one  gazes  marvelling  at 
all  the  beauty  lavished  on  a  thing  of  so  little 
worth. 

Wolf-fish,  first  cousins  to  the  catfish,  are  found 
also  on  the  trawls;  and  dog-fish,  with  pointed 
snouts  and  sand-paper  skins,  abound  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  drive  away  everything  else  sometimes. 
Sand-dabs,  a  kind  of  flounder,  fasten  their  slug- 
gish bodies  to  the  hooks,  and  a  few  beautiful  red 
fish,  called  bream,  are  occasionally  found ;  also  a 
few  blue-fish  and  sharks ;   frequently  halibut,  — 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  87 

though  these  latter  are  generally  caught  on  trawls 
which  are  made  especially  for  them.  Sometimes 
is  caught  on  a  trawl  a  monstrous  creature  of  hor- 
rible aspect,  called  the  nurse-fish,  —  an  immense 
fish  weighing  twelve  hundred  pounds,  with  a 
skin  like  a  nutmeg-grater,  and  no  teeth,  —  a  kind 
of  sucker,  hence  its  name.  I  asked  a  Shoaler 
w^hat  the  nurse-fish  looked  like,  and  he  answered 
promptly,  ''  Like  the  Devil !  "  One  weighing 
twelve  hundred  pounds  has  "  two  barrels  of 
liver,"  as  the  natives  phrase  it,  which  is  very 
valuable  for  the  oil  it  contains.  One  of  the  fish- 
ermen described  a  creature  which  they  call  mud- 
eel,  —  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  with  a  mouth  like  a 
rat,  and  two  teeth.  The  bite  of  this  water-snake 
is  poisonous,  the  islanders  aver,  and  tell  a  story 
of  a  man  bitten  by  one  at  Mount  Desert  last 
year,  "  who  did  not  live  long  enough  to  get  to  the 
doctor."  They  bite  at  the  hooks  on  the  trawl,  and 
are  drawn  up  in  a  lump  of  mud,  and  the  Inen  cut 
the  ropes  and  mangle  their  lines  to  get  rid  of 
them.  Huge  sunfish  are  sometimes  harpooned, 
lying  on  the  top  of  the  water,  —  a  lump  of  flesh 
like  cocoanut  meat  encased  in  a  skin  like  rubber 
cloth,  with  a  most  dim  and  abject  hint  of  a  face, 
absurdly  disproportionate  to  the  size  of  the  body, 
roughly  outlined   on  the  edge.      Sword-fish  are 


88  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

also  harpooned,  weighing  eight  hundi'ed  pounds 
and  upward ;  they  are  very  dehcate  food.  A 
sword-fish  swimming  leaves  a  wake  a  mile  long 
on  a  calm  day,  and  bewilders  the  imagination  into 
a  belief  in  sea-serpents.  There  's  a  legend  that  a 
torpedo  was  caught  here  once  upon  a  time ;  and 
the  thrasher,  fox-shark,  or  sea-fox  occasionally 
alarms  the  fisherman  with  his  tremendous  flex- 
ible tail,  that  reaches  "from  the  gunnel  to  the 
mainmast-top"  when  the  creature  comes  to  the 
surface.  Also  they  tell  of  skip-jacks  that  sprang 
on  board  their  boats  at  night  when  they  were 
hake-fishing,  — "  little  things  about  as  large  as 
mice,  long  and  slender,  with  beaks  like  birds." 
Sometimes  a  huge  horse-mackerel  flounders  in  and 
drives  ashore  on  a  ledge,  for  the  gulls  to  scream 
over  for  weeks.  Mackerel,  herring,  porgies,  and 
shiners  used  to  abound  before  the  seines  so  thinned 
them.  Bonito  and  blue-fish  and  dog-fish  help 
drive  away  the  more  valuable  varieties.  It  is  a 
lovely  sight  to  see  a  herring-net  drawn  in,  espe- 
cially by  moonlight,  when  every  fish  hangs  like  a 
long  silver  drop  from  the  close-set  meshes.  Perch 
are  found  in  inexhaustible  quantities  about  the 
rocks,  and  lump  or  butter  fish  are  sometimes 
caught ;  pollock  are  very  plentiful,  —  smooth, 
graceful,  slender  creatures !     It  is  fascinating  to 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  8^ 

watch  them  turning  somersets  in  the  water  close 
to  the  shore  in  full  tides,  or  following  a  boat  at 
sunset,  and  breaking  the  molten  gold  of  the  sea's 
surface  with  silver-sparkling  fin  and  tail.  The 
rudder-fish  is  sometimes  found,  and  alewives  and 
menhaden.  Whales  are  more  or  less  plentiful  in 
summer,  "  spouting  their  foam-fountains  in  the 
sea."  Beautiful  is  the  sparkling  column  of  water 
rising  suddenly  afar  off  and  falling  noiselessly 
back  again.  Not  long  ago  a  whale  twisted  his 
tail  in  the  cable  of  the  schooner  Vesper,  lying 
to  the  eastward  of  the  Shoals,  and  towed  the  ves- 
sel several  miles,  at  the  rate  of  twenty  knots  an 
hour,  with  the  water  boiling  all  over  her  from 
stem  to  stern ! 

Last  winter  some  of  the  Shoalers  were  drawing 
a  trawl  between  the  Shoals  and  Boone  Island, 
fifteen  miles  to  the  eastward.  As  they  drew  in 
the  line  and  relieved  each  hook  of  its  burden,  lo  ! 
a  horror  was  lifted  half  above  the  surface,  —  part 
of  a  human  body,  which  dropped  off  the  hooks 
and  was  gone,  while  they  shuddered,  and  stared  at 
each  other,  aghast  at  the  hideous  sight. 

Porpoises  are  seen  at  all  seasons.  I  never  saw 
one  near  enough  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  its  ex- 
pression, but  it  always  seemed  to  me  that  these 
fish  led  a  more  hilarious  life  than  the  greater  part 


90  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

of  their  race,  aud  I  think  they  must  carry  less 
dejected  countenances  than  most  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  sea.  They  frisk  so  delightfully  on 
the  surface,  and  ponderously  plunge  over  and  over 
with  such  apparent  gayety  and  satisfaction  !  I 
remember  being  out  one  moonless  summer  night 
beyond  the  lighthouse  island,  in  a  little  boat  filled 
with  gay  young  people.  The  sea  was  like  oil,  the 
air  was  thick  and  warm,  no  star  broke  the  upper 
darkness,  only  now  and  then  the  lighthouse  threw 
its  jewelled  track  along  the  water,  and  through 
the  dense  air  its  long  rays  stretched  above,  turn- 
ing solemnly,  like  the  luminous  spokes  of  a  gigantic 
wheel,  as  the  lamps  slowly  revolved.  There  had 
been  much  talk  and  song  and  laughter,  much  play- 
ing with  the  warm  waves  (or  rather  smooth  undu- 
lations of  the  sea,  for  there  was  n't  a  breath  of 
wind  to  make  a  ripple),  which  broke  at  a  touch 
into  pale-green,  phosphorescent  fire.  Beautiful 
arms,  made  bare  to  the  shoulder,  thrust  down  into 
the  liquid  darkness,  shone  flaming  silver  and  gold ; 
from  the  fingers  playing  beneath,  fire  seemed  to 
stream;  emerald  sparks  clung  to  the  damp  dra- 
peries; and  a  splashing  oar-blade  half  revealed 
sweet  faces  and  bright  young  eyes.  Suddenly  a 
pause  came  in  talk  and  song  and  laughter,  and  in 
the  unaccustomed  silence  we  seemed  to  be  waiting 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  91 

for  something.  At  once  out  of  the  darkness  came 
a  slow,  tremendous  sigh  that  made  us  shiver  in 
the  soft  air,  as  if  all  the  woe  and  terror  of  the  sea 
were  condensed  in  that  immense  and  awful  breath ; 
and  we  took  our  oars  and  pulled  homeward,  with 
the  weird  fires  flashing  from  our  bows  and  oar- 
blades.  "Only  a  porpoise  blowing,"  said  the  in- 
itiated, when  we  told  our  tale.  It  may  have  been 
"  only  a  porpoise  blowing  "  ;  but  the  leviathan  him- 
self could  hardly  have  made  a  more  prodigious 
sound. 

Within  the  lovely  limits  of  summer  it  is  beauti- 
ful to  live  almost  anywhere  ;  most  beautiful  where 
the  ocean  meets  the  land  ;  and  here  particularly, 
where  all  the  varying  splendor  of  the  sea  en- 
compasses the  place,  and  the  ceaseless  changing 
of  the  tides  brings  continual  refreshment  into 
the  life  of  every  day.  But  summer  is  late  and 
slow  to  come ;  and  long  after  the  mainland  has 
begun  to  bloom  and  smile  beneath  the  influence 
of  spring,  the  bitter  northwest  winds  still  sweep 
the  cold,  green  water  about  these  rocks,  and  tear 
its  surface  into  long  and  glittering  waves  from 
morning  till  night,  and  fi'om  night  till  morning, 
through  many  weeks.  No  leaf  breaks  the  frozen 
Boil,  and  no  bud  swells  on  the  shaggy  bushes  that 


92  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

clothe  the  slopes.  But  if  summer  is  a  laggard  in 
her  coming,  she  makes  up  for  it  by  the  loveli- 
ness of  her  lingering  into  autumn ;  for  when  the 
pride  of  trees  and  flowers  is  despoiled  by  frost 
on  shore,  the  little  gardens  here  are  glowing  at 
their  brightest,  and  day  after  day  of  mellow  splen- 
dor drops  like  a  benediction  from  the  hand  of  God. 
In  the  early  mornings  in  September  the  mists 
draw  away  from  the  depths  of  inland  valleys,  and 
rise  into  the  lucid  western  sky,  —  tall  columns  and 
towers  of  cloud,  solid,  compact,  superb ;  their 
pure,  white,  shining  heads  uplifted  into  the  ether, 
solemn,  stately,  and  still,  till  some  wandering 
breeze  disturbs  their  perfect  outline,  and  they  melt 
about  the  heavens  in  scattered  fragments  as  the 
day  goes  on.  Then  there  are  mornings  when  "  all 
in  the  blue,  unclouded  weather"  the  coast-line 
comes  out  so  distinctly  that  houses,  trees,  bits  of 
white  beach,  are  clearly  visible,  and  with  a  glass, 
moving  forms  of  carriages  and  cattle  are  distin- 
guishable nine  miles  away.  In  the  transparent 
air  the  peaks  of  Mounts  Madison,  Washington, 
and  Jefferson  are  seen  distinctly  at  a  distance  of 
one  hundred  miles.  In  the  early  light  even  the 
green  color  of  the  trees  is  perceptible  on  the  Rye 
shore.  All  through  these  quiet  days  the  air  is  full 
of  wandering  thistle-down,  the  inland  golden-rod 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  9^ 

waves  its  plumes,  and  close  by  the  water's  edge, 
in  rocky  clefts,  its  seaside  sister  blossoms  in 
gorgeous  color ;  the  rose-haws  redden,  the  iris 
unlocks  its  shining  caskets,  and  casts  its  closely 
packed  seeds  about,  gray  berries  cluster  on  the 
bayberry-bushes,  the  sweet  life-everlasting  sends 
out  its  wonderful,  delicious  fragrance,  and  the  pale 
asters  spread  their  flowers  in  many-tinted  sprays. 
Throuo;h  October  and  into  November  the  fair, 
mild  weather  lasts.  At  the  first  breath  of  Octo- 
ber, the  hillside  at  Appledore  fires  up  with  the 
living  crimson  of  the  huckleberry-bushes,  as  if  a 
blazing  torch  had  been  applied  to  it ;  the  slanting 
light  at  sunrise  and  sunset  makes  a  wonderful  glory 
across  it.  The  sky  deepens  its  blue ;  beneath  it 
the  brilliant  sea  glows  into  violet,  and  flashes  into 
splendid  purple  where  the  "  tide-rip,"  or  eddying 
winds,  make  long  streaks  across  its  surface  (poets 
are  not  wrong  who  talk  of  "purple  seas,")  the 
air  is  clear  and  sparkling,  the  lovely  summer  haze 
withdraws,  all  things  take  a  crisp  and  tender 
outline,  and  the  cry  of  the  curlew  and  the  plover 
is  doubly  sweet  through  the  pure,  cool  air.  Then 
sunsets  burn  in  clear  and  tranquil  skies,  or  flame 
in  piled  magnificence  of  clouds.  Some  night  a 
long  bar  lies,  like  a  smouldering  brand,  along  the 
horizon,  deep  carmine  where  the  sun  has  touched 


94'  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS 

it ;  and  out  of  that  bar  breaks  a  sudden  gale  before 
morning,  and  a  fine  fury  and  tumult  begins  to  rage. 
Then  comes  the  fitful  weather,  —  wild  winds  and 
hurrying  waves,  low,  scudding  clouds,  tremendous 
rains  that  shut  out  everything  ;  and  the  rocks  lie 
weltering  between  the  sea  and  sky,  with  the  brief 
fire  of  the  leaves  quenched  and  swept  away  on  the 
hillside,  —  onl}^  rushing  wind  and  streaming  water 
everywhere,  as  if  a  second  deluge  were  flooding  the 
world. 

After  such  a  rain  comes  a  gale  from  the  south- 
east to  sweep  the  sky  clear,  —  a  gale  so  furious 
that  it  blows  the  sails  straight  out  of  the  bolt- 
ropes,  if  any  vessel  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  be 
caught  in  it  with  a  rag  of  canvas  aloft ;  and  the 
coast  is  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  such  craft  as 
happen  to  be  caught  on  the  lee  shore,  for 

"Anchors  drag,  and  topmasts  lap," 
and  nothing  can  hold  against  this  terrible,  blind 
fury.  It  is  appalling  to  listen  to  the  shriek  of 
such  a  wind,  even  though  one  is  safe  upon  a  rock 
that  cannot  move  ;  and  more  dreadful  is  it  to  see 
the  destruction  one  cannot  lift  a  finger  to  avert. 

As  the  air  grows  colder,  curious  atmospheric 
effects  become  visible.  At  the  first  biting  cold  the 
distant  mainland  has  the  appearance  of  being  taken 
off"  its  feet,  as  it  were,  —  the  line  shrunken  and 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  95 

distorted,  detached  from  the  water  at  both  ends  : 
it  is  as  if  one  looked  under  it  and  saw  the  sky  be- 
yond. Then,  on  bright  mornings  with  a  brisk  wind, 
little  wafts  of  mist  rise  between  the  quick,  short 
waves,  and  melt  away  before  noon.  At  some  peri- 
ods of  intense  cold  these  mists,  which  are  never  in 
banks  like  fog,  rise  in  irregular,  whirling  columns 
reaching  to  the  clouds,  —  shadowy  phantoms,  torn 
and  wild,  that  stalk  past  like  Ossian's  ghosts,  sol- 
emnly and  noiselessly  throiighout  the  bitter  day. 
When  the  sun  drops  down  behind  these  weird 
processions,  with  a  dark-red,  lurid  light,  it  is  like  a 
vast  conflagration,  wonderful  and  terrible  to  see. 
The  columns,  that  strike  and  fall  athwart  the 
island,  sweep  against  the  windows  with  a  sound 
like  sand,  and  lie  on  the  ground  in  ridges,  like  fine, 
sharp  hail ;  yet  the  heavens  are  clear,  the  heavily 
rolling  sea  dark-green  and  white,  and,  between  the 
breaking  crests,  the  misty  columns  stream  toward 
the  sky. 

Sometimes  a  totally  different  vapor,  like  cold, 
black  smoke,  rolls  out  from  the  land,  and  flows 
over  the  sea  to  an  unknown  distance,  swallowing 
up  the  islands  on  its  way.  Its  approach  is  hideous 
to  witness.  "It  's  all  thick  o'  black  vapor,"  some 
islander  announces,  coming  in  from  out  of  doors ; 
just  as  they  say,  "  It 's  all  thick  o'  white  foam," 


96  AMONG   TEE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

when  the  sudden  squall  tears  the  sea  into  fringes 
of  spray. 

In  December  the  colors  seem  to  fade  out  of  the 
world,  and  utter  ungi'aciousness  prevails.  The 
great,  cool,  whispering,  delicious  sea,  that  encir- 
cled us  with  a  thousand  caresses  the  beautiful 
summer  through,  turns  slowly  our  sullen  and  in- 
veterate enemy ;  leaden  it  lies  beneath  a  sky  like 
tin,  and  rolls  its  "  white,  cold,  heavy-plunging 
foam"  against  a  shore  of  iron.  Each  island 
wears  its  chalk-white  girdle  of  ice  between  the 
rising  and  falling  tides  (edged  with  black  at  low- 
water,  where  the  lowest-growing  seaweed  is  ex- 
posed), making  the  stern  bare  rocks  above  more 
forbidding  by  their  contrast  with  its  stark  white- 
ness, —  and  the  whiteness  of  salt-water  ice  is 
ghastly.     Nothing  stirs  abroad,  except  perhaps 

"A  lonely  sea-bird  crosses, 
With  one  waft  of  wing," 

your  view,  as  you  gaze  from  some  spray-in- 
crusted  window ;  or  you  behold  the  weather- 
beaten  schooners  creeping  along  the  blurred 
coast-line  from  Cape  Elizabeth  and  the  northern 
ports  of  Maine  towards  Cape  Ann,  laden  with  lum- 
ber or  lime,  and  sometimes,  rarely,  with  hay  or 
provisions. 

After  winter  has  fairly  set  in,  the  lonely  dwellers 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  97 

at  the  Isles  of  Shoals  find  life  quite  as  much  as 
they  can  manage,  being  so  entirely  thrown  upon 
their  own  resources  that  it  requires  all  the  philos- 
ophy at  their  disposal  to  answer  the  demand.  In 
the  village,  where  several  families  make  a  little 
community,  there  should  be  various  human  inter- 
ests outside  each  separate  fireside ;  but  of  their 
mode  of  life  I  know  little.  Upon  three  of  the 
islands  live  isolated  families,  cut  off  by  the  "  al- 
ways wind-obeying  deep"  from  each  other  and 
from  the  mainland,  sometimes  for  weeks  together, 
when  the  gales  are  fiercest,  with  no  letters  nor 
intercourse  with  any  living  thing.  Some  sullen 
day  in  December  the  snow  begins  to  fall,  and  the 
last  touch  of  desolation  is  laid  upon  the  scene; 
there  is  nothing  any  more  but  white  snow  and 
dark  water,  hemmed  in  by  a  murky  horizon ;  and 
nothing  moves  or  sounds  within  its  circle  but  the 
sea  harshly  assailing  the  shore,  and  the  chill  wind 
that  sweeps  across.  Toward  night  the  wind  be- 
gins to  rise,  the  snow  whirls  and  drifts,  and  clings 
wherever  it  can  find  a  resting-place ;  and  though 
so  much  is  blown  away,  yet  there  is  enough  left  to 
smother  up  the  rock  and  make  it  almost  impos- 
sible to  move  about  on  it.  The  drifts  sometimes 
are  very  deep  in  the  hollows ;  one  winter,  sixteen 
sheep  were  buried  in  a  drift,  in  which  they  re- 
5  G 


98  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

mained  a  week,  and,  strange  to  say,  only  one  was 
dead  when  they  were  discovered.  One  goes  to 
sleep  in  the  muffled  roar  of  the  storm,  and  wakes 
to  find  it  still  raging  with  senseless  fury ;  all  day 
it  continues ;  towards  night  the  curtain  of  falling 
flakes  withdraws,  a  faint  light  shows  westward ; 
slowly  the  clouds  roll  together,  the  lift  grows  bright 
with  pale,  clear  blue  over  the  land,  the  wind  has 
hauled  to  the  northwest,  and  the  storm  is  at  an 
end.  When  the  clouds  are  swept  away  by  the 
besom  of  the  pitiless  northwest,  how  the  stars 
glitter  in  the  frosty  sky  !  What  wondrous  stream- 
ers of  northern  lights  flare  through  the  winter 
darkness  !  I  have  seen  the  sky  at  midnight  crim- 
son and  emerald  and  orange  and  blue  in  palpitat- 
ing sheets  along  the  whole  northern  half  of  the 
heavens,  or  rosy  to  the  zenith,  or  belted  with  a 
bar  of  solid  yellow  light  from  east  to  west,  as  if 
the  world  were  a  basket,  and  it  the  golden  handle 
thereto.  The  weather  becomes  of  the  first  impor- 
tance to  the  dwellers  on  the  rock ;  the  changes  of 
the  sky  and  sea,  the  flitting  of  the  coasters  to  and 
fro,  the  visits  of  the  sea-fowl,  sunrise  and  sunset, 
the  changing  moon,  the  northern  lights,  the  con- 
stellations that  wheel  in  splendor  through  the 
Wmter  night,  —  all  are  noted  with  a  love  and 
careful  scrutiny  that   is  seldom  given  by  people 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  99 

living  in  populous  places.  One  gi'ows  accustomed 
to  the  aspect  of  the  constellations,  and  they  seem 
like  the  faces  of  old  friends  looking  down  out  of 
the  awful  blackness;  and  when  in  summer  the 
great  Orion  disappears,  how  it  is  missed  out  of 
the  sky  !  I  remember  the  delight  with  which  w^e 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  planet  Mercury,  in  March, 
1868,  following  close  at  the  heels  of  the  sinking 
sun,  redly  shining  in  the  reddened  horizon,  —  a 
stranger  mysterious  and  utterly  unknown  before. 

For  these  things  make  our  world  :  there  are  no 
lectures,  operas,  concerts,  theatres,  no  music  of 
any  kind,  except  what  the  waves  may  whisper  in 
rarely  gentle  moods  ;  no  galleries  of  wonders  like 
the  Natural  History  rooms,  in  which  it  is  so  fas- 
cinating to  wander;  no  streets,  shops,  carriages, 
no  postman,  no  neighbors,  not  a  door-bell  within 
the  compass  of  the  place  !  Never  was  life  so  ex- 
empt from  interruptions.  The  eight  or  ten  small 
schooners  that  carry  on  winter  fishing,  flying  to 
and  fro  through  foam  and  squall  to  set  and  haul 
in  their  trawls,  at  rare  intervals  bring  a  mail,  — 
an  accumulation  of  letters,  magazines,  and  news- 
papers that  it  requires  a  long  time  to  plod  through. 
This  is  the  greatest  excitement  of  the  long  win- 
ters ;  and  no  one  can  truly  appreciate  the  delight 
of  letters  till  he  has  lived  where  he  can  hear  from 
his  friends  only  once  in  a  month. 


100  AMONG    TEE  ISLES    OF  SHOALS. 

But  the  best  balanced  human  mind  is  prone  to 
lose  its  elasticity,  and  stagnate,  in  this  isolation. 
One  learus  immediately  the  value  of  work  to  keep 
one's  wits  clear,  cheerful,  and  steady ;  just  as  much 
real  work  of  the  body  as  it  can  bear  without  wea- 
riness being  always  beneficent,  but  here  indispen- 
sable. And  in  this  matter  women  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  men,  who  are  condemned  to  fold  their 
hands  when  their  tasks  are  done.  No  woman  need 
ever  have  a  vacant  minute,  —  there  are  so  many 
pleasant,  useful  things  which  she  may,  and  had 
better  do.  Blessed  be  the  man  who  invented 
knitting  !  (I  never  heard  that  a  woman  invented 
this  or  any  other  art.)  It  is  the  most  charming 
and  picturesque  of  quiet  occupations,  leaving  the 
knitter  free  to  read  aloud,  or  talk,  or  think,  while 
steadily  and  surely  beneath  the  flying  fingers  the 
comfortable  stocking  gi'ows. 

No  one  can  dream  what  a  charm  there  is  in 
taking  care  of  pets,  singing-birds,  plants,  etc., 
with  such  advantages  of  solitude  ;  how  every  leaf 
and  bud  and  flower  is  pored  over,  and  admired, 
and  loved  !  A  whole  conservatory,  flushed  with 
azaleas,  and  brilliant  with  forests  of  camellias  and 
every  precious  exotic  that  blooms,  could  not  im- 
part so  much  delight  as  I  have  known  a  single  rose 
to  give,  unfolding  in  the  bleak  bitterness  of  a  day 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  101 

in  February,  when  this  side  of  the  planet  seemed 
to  have  arrived  at  its  culmination  of  hopelessness, 
with  the  Isles  of  Shoals  the  most  hopeless  speck 
upon  its  surface.  One  gets  close  to  the  heart  of 
these  things ;  they  are  almost  as  precious  as  Pic- 
ciola  to  the  prisoner,  and  yield  a  fresh  and  con- 
stant joy,  such  as  the  pleasure-seeking  inhabitants 
of  cities  could  not  find  in  their  whole  round  of 
shifting  diversions.  With  a  bright  and  cheerful 
interior,  open  fires,  books,  and  pictures,  windows 
full  of  thrifty  blossoming  plants  and  climbing  vines, 
a  family  of  singing-birds,  plenty  of  work,  and  a 
clear  head  and  quiet  conscience,  it  would  go  hard 
if  one  could  not  be  happy  even  in  such  loneliness. 
Books,  of  course,  are  inestimable.  Nowhere  does 
one  follow  a  play  of  Shakespeare's  with  greater 
zest,  for  it  brings  the  whole  world,  which  you  need, 
about  you;  doubly  precious  the  deep  thoughts 
wise  men  have  given  to  help  us,  —  doubly  sweet 
the  songs  of  all  the  poets ;  for  nothing  comes  be- 
tween to  distract  you. 

One  realizes  how  hard  it  was  for  Robinson  Cru- 
soe to  keep  the  record  of  his  lonely  days ;  for 
even  in  a  family  of  eight  or  nine  the  succession  is 
kept  with  difficulty.  I  recollect  that,  after  an 
unusually  busy  Saturday,  when  household  work 
NSiS  done,  and  lessons  said,  and  the  family  were 


102  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

looking  forward  to  Sunday  and  merited  leisure,  at 
sunset  came  a  young  Star-Islander  on  some  errand 
to  oiu'  door.  One  said  to  him,  "  Well,  Jud,  how 
many  fish  have  they  caught  to-day  at  Star  % " 
Jud  looked  askance  and  answered,  like  one  who 
did  not  wish  to  be  trifled  with,  "  We  don't  go 
a-fishing  Sundays  !  "  So  we  had  lost  our  Sunday, 
thinking  it  was  Saturday;  and  next  day  began  the 
usual  business,  with  no  break  of  refreshing  rest 
between. 

Though  the  thermometer  says  that  here  it  is 
twelve  degrees  warmer  in  winter  than  on  the  main- 
land, the  difference  is  hardly  perceptible,  —  the 
situation  is  so  bleak,  w^hile  the  winds  of  the  north 
and  west  bite  like  demons,  with  all  the  bitter 
breath  of  the  snowy  continent  condensed  in  their 
deadly  chill.  Easterly  and  southerly  gales  are 
milder ;  we  have  no  east  winds  such  as  sadden 
humanity  on  shore  ;  they  are  tempered  to  gentle- 
ness by  some  mysterious  means.  Sometimes  there 
are  periods  of  cold  which,  though  not  intense  (the 
mercury  seldom  falling  lower  than  11°  above  zero), 
are  of  such  long  duration  that  the  fish  are  killed 
in  the  sea.  This  happens  frequently  with  perch, 
the  dead  bodies  of  which  strew  the  shores  and  float 
on  the  water  in  masses.  Sometimes  ice  forms  in 
the  mouth  of  the  Piscataqua  River,  which,  contin' 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  103 

ually  broken  into  unequal  blocks  by  the  rushing 
tide  and  the  immense  pressure  of  the  outer  ocean, 
fills  the  space  between  the  islands  and  the  shore, 
so  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  force  a  boat  through. 
The  few  schooners  moored  about  the  islands  be- 
come so  loaded  with  ice  that  sometimes  they  sink  ; 
every  plunge  into  the  assailing  waves  adds  a  fresh 
crust,  infinitely  thin ;  but  in  twenty-four  hours 
enough  accumulates  to  sink  the  vessel ;  and  it  is 
part  of  the  day's  work  in  the  coldest  weather  to 
beat  off"  the  ice,  —  and  hard  work  it  is.  Every 
time  the  bowsprit  dips  under,  the  man  who  sits 
astride  it  is  immersed  to  his  waist  in  the  freezing 
water,  as  he  beats  at  the  bow  to  free  the  laboring 
craft.  I  cannot  imagine  a  harder  life  than  the 
sailors  lead  in  winter  in  the  coasting-vessels  that 
stream  in  endless  processions  to  and  fro  along  the 
shore ;  and  they  seem  to  be  the  hardest  set  of 
people  under  the  sun,  —  so  rough  and  reckless  that 
they  are  not  pleasant  even  at  a  distance.  Some- 
times they  land  here.  A  crew  of  thirteen  or  four- 
teen came  on  shore  last  winter ;  they  might 
have  been  the  ghosts  of  the  men  who  manned  the 
picaroons  that  used  to  swarm  in  these  seas.  A 
more  piratical-looking  set  could  not  well  be  imag- 
ined. They  roamed  about,  and  glared  in  at  the 
windows  with  weather-beaten,    brutal  faces,    and 


104  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

eyes  that  showed  traces  of  whiskey,  ugly  and  un- 
mistakable. 

No  other  visitors  break  the  solitude  of  Apple- 
dore,  except  neighbors  from  Star  once  in  a  while  ; 
if  any  one  is  sick,  they  send,  perhaps,  for  medicine 
or  milk ;  or  they  bring  some  rare  fish ;  or  if  any 
one  dies,  and  they  cannot  reach  the  mainland, 
they  come  to  get  a  coffin  made.  I  never  shall  for- 
get one  long,  dreary,  drizzly  northeast  storm,  when 
two  men  rowed  across  from  Star  to  Appledore  on 
this  errand.  A  little  child  had  died,  and  they 
could  not  sail  ^o  the  mainland,  and  had  no  means 
to  construct  a  cofiin  among  themselves.  All  day 
I  watched  the  making  of  that  little  chrysalis ;  and 
at  night  the  last  nail  was  drive^i  in,  and  it  lay 
across  a  bench  in  the  midst  of  the  litter  of  the 
workshop,  and  a  curious  stillness  seemed  to  ema- 
nate from  the  senseless  boards.  I  went  back  to 
the  house  and  gathered  a  handful  of  scarlet  gera- 
nium, and  returned  with  it  through  the  rain. 
The  brilliant  blossoms  were  sprinkled  with  glitter- 
ing drops.  I  laid  them  in  the  little  coffin,  while 
the  wind  wailed  so  sorrowfully  outside,  and  the 
rain  poured  against  the  windows.  Two  men  came 
through  the  mist  and  storm,  and  one  swung  the 
light  little  shell  to  his  shoulder,  and  they  carried 
it  away,  and  the  gathering  darkness  shut  down  and 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  105 

hid  them  as  they  tossed  among  the  waves.  I 
never  saw  the  little  girl,  but  where  they  buried 
her  I  know :  the  lighthouse  shines  close  by,  and 
every  night  the  quiet,  constant  ray  steals  to  her 
grave  and  softly  touches  it,  as  if  to  say,  with  a 
caress,  "  Sleep  well !  Be  thankful  you  are  spared 
so  much  that  I  see  humanity  endure,  fixed  here 
forever  where  I  stand  !  " 

It  is  exhilarating,  spite  of  the  intense  cold,  to 
wake  to  the  brightness  the  northwest  gale  always 
brings,  after  the  hopeless  smother  of  a  prolonged 
snow-storm.  The  sea  is  deep  indigo,  whitened 
with  flashing  waves  all  over  the  surface  ;  the  sky 
is  speckless ;  no  cloud  passes  across  it  the  whole 
day  long ;  and  the  sun  sets  red  and  clear,  without 
any  abatement  of  the  wind.  The  spray  flying  on 
the  western  shore  for  a  moment  is  rosy  as  the 
sinking  sun  shines  through,  but  for  a  moment 
only,  —  and  again  there  is  nothing  but  the  ghastly 
whiteness  of  the  salt-water  ice,  the  cold,  gray  rock, 
the  sullen,  foaming  brine,  the  unrelenting  heavens, 
and  the  sharp  wind  cutting  like  a  knife.  All  night 
long  it  roars  beneath  the  hollow  sky,  —  roars  still 
at  sunrise.  Again  the  day  passes  precisely  like 
the  one  gone  before  ;  the  sun  lies  in  a  glare  of 
quicksilver  on  the  western  water,  sinks  again  in 
the  red  west  to  rise  on  just  such  another  day  j 
5 


106  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

and  thus  goes  on,  for  weeks  sometimes,  with  an 
exasperating  pertinacity  that  would  try  the  most 
philosophical  patience.  There  comes  a  time  when 
just  that  glare  of  quicksilver  on  the  water  is  not 
to  be  endured  a  minute  longer.  During  this  pe- 
riod no  boat  goes  to  or  comes  from  the  mainland, 
and  the  prisoners  on  the  rock  are  cut  off  from  all 
intercourse  with  their  kind.  Abroad,  only  the 
cattle  move,  crowding  into  the  sunniest  corners, 
and  stupidly  chewing  the  cud  ;  and  the  hens  and 
ducks,  that  chatter  and  cackle  and  cheerfully  crow 
in  spite  of  fate  and  the  northwest  gale.  The 
dauntless  and  graceful  gulls  soar  on  their  strong 
pinions  over  the  drift  cast  up  about  the  coves. 
Sometimes  flocks  of  snow-buntings  wheel  about 
the  house  and  pierce  the  loud  breathing  of  the 
wind  with  sweet,  wild  cries.  And  often  the  spec- 
tral arctic  owl  may  be  seen  on  a  height,  sitting 
upright,  like  a  column  of  snow,  its  large,  round 
head  slowly  turning  from  left  to  right,  ever  on  the 
alert,  watching  for  the  rats  that  plague  the  settle- 
ment almost  as  grievously  as  they  did  Hamelin 
town,  in  Brunswick,  five  hundred  years  ago. 

How  the  rats  came  here  first  is  not  known  ; 
probably  some  old  ship  imported  them.  They 
live  partly  on  mussels,  the  shells  of  which  lie  in 
heaps  about  their  holes,  as  the  violet-lined  fresh- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  107 

water  shells  lie  about  the  nests  of  the  muskrats 
on  the  mainland.  They  burrow  among  the  rocks 
close  to  the  shore,  in  favorable  spots,  and,  some- 
what like  the  moles,  make  subterranean  galleries, 
whence  they  issue  at  low  tide,  and,  stealing  to  the 
crevices  of  seaweed-curtained  rocks,  they  fall  upon 
and  dislodge  any  unfortunate  crabs  they  may  find, 
and  kill  and  devour  them.  Many  a  rat  has  caught 
a  Tartar  in  this  perilous  kind  of  hunting,  has  been 
dragged  into  the  sea  and  killed,  —  drowned  in  the 
clutches  of  the  crab  he  sought  to  devour ;  for  the 
strength  of  these  shell-fish  is  something  astonish- 
ing. 

Several  snowy  owls  haunt  the  islands  the  whole 
winter  long.  I  have  never  heard  them  cry  like 
other  owls ;  when  disturbed  or  angry,  they  make 
a  sound  like  a  watchman's  rattle,  very  loud  and 
harsh,  or  they  whistle  with  intense  shrillness,  like 
a  human  being.  Their  habitual  silence  adds  to 
their  ghostliness ;  and  when  at  noonday  they  sit, 
high  up,  snow-white  above  the  snow-drifts,  blink- 
ing their  pale  yellow  eyes  in  the  sun,  they  are 
weird  indeed.  One  night  in  March  I  saw  one 
perched  upon  a  rock  between  me  and  the  "last 
remains  of  sunset  dimly  burning  "  in  the  west,  his 
curious  outline  drawn  black  against  the  redness  of 
the   sky,  his  large  head   bent  forward,  and   the 


108  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

whole  aspect  meditative  and  most  human  in  its 
expression.  I  longed  to  go  out  and  sit  beside  him 
and  talk  to  him  in  the  twilight,  to  ask  of  him  the 
story  of  his  life,  or,  if  he  would  have  permitted  it, 
to  watch  him  without  a  word.  The  plumage  of 
this  creature  is  wonderfully  beautiful,  —  white^ 
with  scattered  spots  like  little  flecks  of  tawny 
cloud,  —  and  his  black  beak  and  talons  are  pow- 
erful  and  sharp  as  iron ;  he  might  literally  grapple 
his  friend,  or  his  enemy,  with  hooks  of  steel.  As 
he  is  clothed  in  a  mass  of  down,  his  outlines  are 
so  soft  that  he  is  like  an  enormous  snowflake  while 
flying  j  and  he  is  a  sight  worth  seeing  when  he 
stretches  wide  his  broad  wings,  and  sweeps  down 
on  his  prey,  silent  and  swift,  with  an  unerring  aim, 
and  bears  it  off"  to  the  highest  rock  he  can  find, 
to  devour  it.  In  the  summer  one  finds  frequently 
upon  the  heights  a  little,  solid  ball  of  silvery  fur 
and  pure  white  bones,  washed  and  bleached  by 
the  rain  and  sun ;  it  is  the  rat's  skin  and  skeleton 
in  a  compact  bundle,  which  the  owl  rejects  after 
having  swallowed  it. 

Some  quieter  day,  on  the  edge  of  a  southerly 
wind,  perhaps,  boats  go  out  over  the  gray,  sad 
water  after  sea-fowl,  —  the  murres  that  swim  in 
little  companies,  keeping  just  out  of  reach  of 
shot,  and  are  so  spiteful  that  they  beat  the  boat 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  109 

■with  their  beaks,  when  wounded,  in  impotent 
rage,  till  they  are  despatched  with  an  oar  or 
another  shot ;  or  kittiwakes,  —  exquisite  creatures 
like  living  forms  of  snow  and  cloud  in  color,  with 
beaks  and  feet  of  dull  gold,  —  that  come  when 
you  wave  a  white  handkerchief,  and  flutter  almost 
within  reach  of  your  hand ;  or  oldwives,  called  by 
the  natives  scoldeiiores,  with  clean  white  caps ;  or 
clumsy  eider-ducks,  or  coots,  or  mergansers,  or 
whatever  they  may  find.  Black  ducks,  of  course, 
are  often  shot.  Their  jet-black,  shining  plumage 
is  splendidly  handsome,  set  off  with  the  broad, 
flame-colored  beak.  Little  auks,  stormy-petrels, 
loons,  grebes,  lords-and-ladies,  sea-pigeons,  sea- 
parrots,  various  guillemots,  and  all  sorts  of  gulls 
abound.  Sometimes  an  eagle  sweeps  over ;  gan- 
nets  pay  occasional  visits ;  the  great  blue  heron  is 
often  seen  in  autumn  and  spring.  One  of  the 
most  striking  birds  is  the  cormorant,  called  here 
"  shag  "  ;  from  it  the  rock  at  Duck  Island  takes  its 
name.  It  used  to  be  an  object  of  almost  awful 
interest  to  me  when  I  beheld  it  perched  upon 
"Wliite  Island  Head,  —  a  solemn  figure,  high  and 
dark  against  the  clouds.  Once,  while  living  on 
that  island,  in  the  thickest  of  a  great  storm  in 
autumn,  when  we  seemed  to  be  set  between  two 
contending   armies,   deafened   by  the  continuous 


110  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

cannonading  of  breakers,  and  lashed  and  beaten 
by  winds  and  waters  till  it  was  almost  impos- 
sible to  hear  ourselves  speak,  we  became  aware 
of  another  sound,  which  pierced  to  our  ears, 
bringing  a  sudden  terror  lest  it  should  be  the 
voices  of  human  beings.  Opening  the  window 
a  little,  what  a  wild  combination  of  sounds 
came  shrieking  in !  A  large  flock  of  wild  geese 
had  settled  for  safety  upon  the  rock,  and  com- 
pletely surrounded  us,  —  agitated,  clamorous, 
weary.  We  might  have  secured  any  number  of 
them,  but  it  would  have  been  a  shameful  thing. 
We  were  glad,  indeed,  that  they  should  share  our 
little  foothold  in  that  chaos,  and  they  flew  away 
unhurt  when  the  tempest  lulled.  I  was  a  very 
young  child  when  this  happened,  but  I  never  can 
forget  that  autumn  night,  —  it  seemed  so  wonder- 
ful and  pitiful  that  those  storm-beaten  birds  should 
have  come  crying  to  our  rock ;  and  the  strange^ 
wild  chorus  that  swept  in  when  the  window  was 
pried  open  a  little  took  so  strong  a  hold  upon  my 
imagination  that  I  shall  hear  it  as  long  as  I  live. 
The  lighthouse,  so  beneficent  to  mankind,  is  the 
destroyer  of  birds,  —  of  land  birds  particularly, 
though  in  thick  weather  sea-birds  are  occasionally 
bewildered  into  breaking  their  heads  against  the 
glass,    plunging   forward    headlong   towards    the 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  Ill 

light,  just  as  the  frail  moth  of  summer  evenings 
madly  seeks  its  death  in  the  candle's  blaze.  Some- 
times in  autumn,  always  in  spring,  when  birds  are 
migrating,  they  are  destroyed  in  such  quantities  by 
this  means  that  it  is  painful  to  reflect  upon.  The 
keeper  living  at  the  island  three  years  ago  told  me 
that  he  picked  up  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
in  one  morning  at  the  foot  of  the  lighthouse,  all 
dead.  They  fly  with  such  force  against  the  glass 
that  their  beaks  are  often  splintered.  The  keeper 
said  he  found  the  destruction  greatest  in  hazy 
weather,  and  he  thought  "  they  struck  a  ray  at  a 
great  distance  and  followed  it  up."  Many  a  May 
morning  have  I  wandered  about  the  rock  at  the 
foot  of  the  tower  mourning  over  a  little  apron  brimful 
of  sparrows,  swallows,  thrushes,  robins,  fire-winged 
blackbirds,  many-colored  warblers  and  fly-catchers, 
beautifully  clothed  yellow-birds,  nuthatches,  cat- 
birds, even  the  purple  finch  and  scarlet  tanager 
and  golden  oriole,  and  many  more  beside,  — 
enough  to  break  the  heart  of  a  small  child  to 
think  of!  Once  a  great  eagle  flew  against  the 
lantern  and  shivered  the  glass.  That  was  before 
I  lived  there ;  but  after  we  came,  two  gulls 
cracked  one  of  the  large,  clear  panes,  one  stormy 
night. 

The  sea-birds  are  comparatively  few  and  shy  at 


112  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

this  time ;  but  I  remember  when  they  were  plenti- 
ful enough,  when  on  Duck  Island  in  summer  the 
"  medrakes,"  or  tern,  made  rude  nests  on  the 
beach,  and  the  little  yellow  gulls,  just  out  of  the 
eggs,  ran  tumbling  about  among  the  stones,  hid- 
ing their  foolish  heads  in  every  crack  and  cranny, 
and,  like  the  ostrich,  imagining  themselves  safe  so 
long  as  they  could  not  see  the  danger.  And  even 
now  the  sandpipers  build  in  numbers  on  the 
islands,  and  the  young  birds,  which  look  like  tiny 
tufts  of  fog,  run  about  among  the  bayberry- 
bushes,  with  sweet,  scared  piping.  They  are  ex- 
quisitely beautiful  and  delicate,  covered  with  a 
down  just  like  gray  mist,  with  brilliant  black  eyes, 
and  slender,  graceful  legs  that  make  one  think  of 
grass-stems.  And  here  the  loons  congregate  in 
spring  and  autumn.  These  birds  seem  to  me  the 
most  human  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  de- 
moniac of  their  kind.  I  learned  to  imitate  their 
different  cries ;  they  are  wonderful !  At  one  time 
the  loon  language  was  so  familiar  that  I  could  al- 
most always  summon  a  considerable  flock  by 
going  down  to  the  water  and  assuming  the  neigh- 
borly and  conversational  tone  which  they  generally 
use  :  after  calling  a  few  minutes,  first  a  far-off 
voice  responded,  then  other  voices  answered  him, 
and  when  this  was  kept  up  a  while,  half  a  dozen 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  113 

birds  would  come  sailing  in.  It  was  the  most 
delightful  little  party  imaginable ;  so  comical 
were  they,  so  entertaining,  that  it  was  impossible 
not  to  laugh  aloud,  —  and  they  could  laugh  too, 
in  a  way  which  chilled  the  marrow  of  one's  bones. 
They  always  laugh,  when  shot  at,  if  they  are 
missed ;  as  the  Shoalers  say,  "  They  laugh  like  a 
warrior."  But  their  long,  wild,  melancholy  cry 
before  a  storm  is  the  most  awful  note  I  ever  heard 
from  a  bird.  It  is  so  sad,  so  hopeless,  —  a  clear, 
high  shriek,  shaken,  as  it  drops  into  silence,  into 
broken  notes  that  make  you  think  of  the  flutter- 
ing of  a  pennon  in  the  wind,  —  a  shudder  of  sound. 
They  invariably  utter  this  cry  before  a  storm. 

Between  the  gales  from  all  points  of  the  com- 
pass, that 

"  'twixt  the  green  sea  and  the  azured  vault 
Set  roaring  war," 

some  day  there  falls  a  dead  calm ;  the  whole  ex- 
panse of  the  ocean  is  like  a  mirror ;  there  's  not  a 
whisper  of  a  wave,  not  a  sigh  from  any  wind 
about  the  world,  —  an  awful,  breathless  pause  pre- 
vails. Then  if  a  loon  swims  into  the  motionless 
little  bights  about  the  island,  and  raises  his  weird 
cry,  the  silent  rocks  re-echo  the  unearthly  tone, 
and  it  seems  as  if  the  creature  were  in  league  with 
the  mysterious  forces  that  are  so  soon  to  turn  this 

H 


114  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

deathly  stillness  into  confusion  and  dismay.  All 
through  the  day  the  ominous  quiet  lasts ;  in  the 
afternoon,  while  yet  the  sea  is  glassy,  a  curious 
undertone  of  mournful  sound  can  be  perceived,  — 
not  fitful, — a  steady  moan  such  as  the  wind 
makes  over  the  mouth  of  an  empty  jar.  Then 
the  islanders  say,  '*  Do  you  hear  Hog  Island  cry- 
ing 1  Now  look  out  for  a  storm ! "  No  one 
knows  how  that  low  moaning  is  produced,  or  why 
Appledore,  of  all  the  islands,  should  alone  lament 
before  the  tempest.  Through  its  gorges,  perhaps, 
some  current  of  wind  sighs  with  that  hollow  cry. 
Yet  the  sea  could  hardly  keep  its  unruffled  sur- 
face were  a  wind  abroad  sufficient  to  draw  out  the 
boding  sound.  Such  a  calm  preceded  the  storm 
which  destroyed  the  Minot's  Ledge  Lighthouse  in 
1849.  I  never  knew  such  silence.  Though  the 
sun  blazed  without  a  cloud,  the  sky  and  sea  were 
utterly  wan  and  colorless,  and  before  sunset  the 
mysterious  tone  began  to  vibrate  in  the  breezeless 
air.  "  Hog  Island 's  crying  !  "  said  the  islanders. 
One  could  but  think  of  the  Ancient  Mariner,  as 
the  angry  sun  went  down  in  a  brassy  glare,  and 
still  no  ripple  broke  the  calm.  But  with  the  twi- 
light gathered  the  waiting  wind,  slowly  and  stead- 
ily ;  and  before  morning  the  shock  of  the  breakers 
wagi  like  the  incessant  thundering  of  heavy  guns  j 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  115 

the  solid  rock  perceptibly  trembled ;  windows 
shook,  and  glass  and  china  rattled  in  the  house. 
It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  confusion,  the  tu- 
mult, the  rush  and  roar  and  thunder  of  waves 
and  wind  overwhelming  those  rocks,  —  the  whole 
Atlantic  rushing  headlong  to  cast  itself  upon 
them.  It  was  very  exciting :  the  most  timid 
among  us  lost  all  sense  of  fear.  Before  the  next 
night  the  sea  had  made  a  breach  through  the 
valley  on  Appledore,  in  which  the  houses  stand, 
—  a  thing  that  never  had  happened  within  the 
memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant.  The  waves 
piled  in  from  the  eastward  (where  Old  Hariy  was 
tossing  the  breakers  sky-high),  —  a  maddened  troop 
of  giants,  sweeping  everything  before  them,  — 
and  followed  one  another,  white  as  milk,  through 
the  valley  from  east  to  west,  strewing  the  space 
with  boulders  from  a  solid  wall  six  feet  high  and 
as  many  thick,  which  ran  across  the  top  of  the 
beach,  and  which  one  tremendous  wave  toppled 
over  like  a  child's  fence  of  blocks.  Kelp  and  sea- 
weed were  piled  in  banks  high  up  along  the  shore, 
and  strewed  the  doorsteps;  and  thousands  of 
the  hideous  creatures  known  among  the  Shoalers 
as  sea  -  mice,  a  holothurian  (a  livid,  shapeless 
mass  of  torpid  life),  were  scattered  in  all  direc- 
tions.    While  the  storm  was  at  its  height,  it  was 


116  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

impossible  to  do  anything  but  watch  it  through 
windows  beaten  by  the  bhnding  spray  which  burst 
in  flying  clouds  all  over  the  island,  drenching 
every  inch  of  the  soil  in  foaming  brine.  In  the 
coves  the  "  yeasty  surges  "  were  churned  into  yel- 
low masses  of  foam,  that  blew  across  in  trembling 
flakes,  and  clung  wherever  they  lit,  leaving  a 
hoary  scum  of  salt  when  dry,  which  remained  till 
sweet,  fair  water  dropped  out  of  the  clouds  to 
wash  it  all  away.  It  was  long  before  the  sea  went 
down ;  and,  days  after  the  sun  began  to  shine,  the 
fringe  of  spray  still  leaped  skyward  from  the 
eastern  shore,  and  Shag  and  Mingo  Eocks  at 
Duck  Island  tossed  their  distant  clouds  of  snow 
against  the  blue. 

After  the  wind  subsided,  it  was  curious  to  ex- 
amine the  effects  of  the  breakers  on  the  eastern 
shore,  where  huge  masses  of  rock  w^ere  struck  off" 
from  the  cliffs,  and  flung  among  the  wild  heaps  of 
scattered  boulders,  to  add  to  the  already  hopeless 
confusion  of  the  gorges.  The  eastern  aspects  of 
the  islands  change  somewhat  every  year  or  two 
from  this  cause ;  and,  indeed,  over  all  their  surfaces 
continual  change  goes  on  from  the  action  of  the 
weather.  Under  the  hammer  and  chisel  of  frost 
and  heat,  masses  of  stone  are  detached  and  fall 
''om  the  edges  of  cliffs,  whole  ledges  become  disin- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  117 

tegrated,  the  rock  cracks  in  smooth,  thin  sheets, 
and,  once  loosened,  the  whole  mass  can  be  pulled 
out,  sheet  by  sheet.  Twenty  years  ago  those  sub- 
tle, irresistible  tools  of  the  weather  had  cracked  off 
a  large  mass  of  rock  from  a  ledge  on  the  slope 
of  a  gentle  declivity.  I  could  just  lay  my  hand  in 
the  space  then  :  now  three  men  can  walk  abreast 
between  the  ledge  and  the  detached  mass  ;  and 
nothing  has  touched  it  save  heat  and  cold.  The 
whole  aspect  of  the  rocks  is  infinitely  aged.  I 
never  can  see  the  beautiful  salutation  of  sunrise 
upon  their  hoary  fronts,  without  thinking  how 
many  millions  of  times  they  have  answered  to 
that  delicate  touch.  On  Boone  Island,  —  a  low, 
dangerous  rock  fifteen  miles  east  of  the  Shoals,  — 
the  sea  has  even  greater  opportunities  of  destruc- 
tion, the  island  is  so  low.  Once,  after  a  stormy 
night,  the  lighthouse-keeper  told  me  the  family 
found  a  great  stone,  weighing  half  a  ton,  in  the 
back  entiy,  which  Father  Neptune  had  deposited 
there,  —  his  card,  with  his  compliments  ! 

Often  tremendous  breakers  encompass  the  isl- 
ands when  the  surface  of  the  sea  is  perfectly  calm 
and  the  weather  serene  and  still,  —  the  results  of 
great  storms  far  out  at  sea.  A  ''long  swell" 
swings  indolently,  and  the  ponderous  waves  roll  in 
as  if  tired  and  haJf  asleep,  to  burst  into  clouds  of 


118  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

splendor  against  the  cliffs.  Very  different  is  their 
hurried,  eager  breaking  when  the  shoulder  of  a 
gale  compels  them.  There  is  no  sound  more 
gentle,  more  slumberous,  than  the  distant  roll  of 
these  billows,  — 

"  The  rolling  sea  resounding  soft," 
as  Spenser  has  it.  The  rush  of  a  fully  alive  and 
closely  pursued  breaker  is,  at  a  distance,  precisely 
like  that  which  a  rocket  makes,  sweeping  headlong 
upward  through  the  air ;  but  the  other  is  a  long 
and  peaceful  sigh,  a  dreamy,  lulling,  beautiful 
sound,  which  produces  a  Lethean  forgetfulness  of 
care  and  pain,  makes  all  earthly  ill  seem  unreal, 
and  it  is  as  if  one  wandered 

"In  dreamful  wastes,  where  footless  fancies  dwell." 
It  requires  a  strong  effort  to  emerge  from  this 
lotus-eating  state  of  mind.  0,  lovely  it  is,  on 
sunny  afternoons  to  sit  high  up  in  a  crevice  of  the 
rock  and  look  down  on  the  living  magnificence  of 
breakers  such  as  made  music  about  us  after  the 
Minot's  Ledge  storm,  —  to  watch  them  gather, 
one  after  another, 

"  Cliffs  of  emerald  topped  with  snow, 
That  lift  and  lift,  and  then  let  go 
A  great  white  avalanche  of  thunder," 

which  makes  the  solid  earth  tremble,  and  you, 
clinging  to  the  moist  rock,  feel  like  a  little  cockle- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  119 

shell !  If  you  are  out  of  the  reach  of  the  heavy- 
fall  of  spray,  the  fine  salt  mist  will  still  stream 
about  you,  and  salute  your  cheek  with  the  health- 
ful freshness  of  the  brine,  make  your  hair  damp, 
and  encrust  your  eyebrows  with  salt.  While 
you  sit  watching  the  shifting  splendor,  uprises 
at  once  a  higher  cloud  than  usual ;  and  across 
it  springs  a  sudden  rainbow,  like  a  beautiful 
thought  beyond  the  reach  of  human  expres- 
sion. High  over  your  head  the  white  gulls  soar, 
gathering  the  sunshine  in  the  snowy  hollows  of 
their  wings.  As  you  look  up  to  them  floating  in 
the  fathomless  blue,  there  is  something  awful  in 
the  purity  of  that  arch  beneath  their  wings,  in 
light  or  shade,  as  the  broad  pinions  move  with 
stately  grace.  There  is  no  bird  so  white,  —  nor 
swan,  nor  dove,  nor  mystic  ibis  :  about  the  ocean- 
marges  there  is  no  dust  to  soil  their  perfect 
snow,  and  no  stormy  wind  can  ruffle  their  delicate 
plumes,  —  the  beautiful,  happy  creatures  !  One 
never  tires  of  watching  them.  Again  and  again 
appears  the  rainbow  with  lovely  colors  melting 
into  each  other  and  vanishing,  to  appear  again  at 
the  next  upspringing  of  the  spray.  On  the  horizon 
the  white  sails  shine;  and  far  and  wide  spreads 
the  blue  of  the  sea,  with  nothing  between  you  and 
the  eastern  continent  across  its  vast,  calm  plain. 


120  AMOrG    THE  ISLES    OF  SHOALS. 

I  well  remember  my  first  sight  of  White  Island, 
where  we  took  up  our  abode  on  leaving  the  main- 
land. I  was  scarcely  five  years  old ;  but  from  the 
upper  windows  of  our  dwelling  in  Portsmouth,  I 
had  been  shown  the  clustered  masts  of  ships  lying 
at  the  wharves  along  the  Piscataqua  River,  faintly 
outlined  against  the  sky,  and,  baby  as  I  was,  even 
then  I  was  drawn,  with  a  vague  longing,  seaward. 
How  delightful  was  that  long,  first  sail  to  the  Isles 
of  Shoals !  How  pleasant  the  unaccustomed 
sound  of  the  incessant  ripple  against  the  boat-side, 
the  sight  of  the  wide  water  and  limitless  sky,  the 
warmth  of  the  broad  sunshine  that  made  us  blink 
like  young  sandpipers  as  we  sat  in  triumph,  perched 
among  the  household  goods  with  which  the  little 
craft  was  laden  !  It  was  at  sunset  in  autumn  that 
we  were  set  ashore  on  that  loneliest,  lovely  rock, 
where  the  lighthouse  looked  down  on  us  like  some 
tall,  black-capped  giant,  and  filled  me  with  awe 
and  wonder.  At  its  base  a  few  goats  were  grouped 
on  the  rock,  standing  out  dark  against  the  red  sky 
as  I  looked  up  at  them.  The  stars  were  beginning 
to  twinkle ;  the  wind  blew  cold,  charged  with  the 
sea's  sweetness ;  the  sound  of  many  waters  half 
bewildered  me.  Some  one  began  to  light  the 
lamps  in  the  tower.  Rich  red  and  golden,  they 
swung  round  in  mid-air;  everything  was  strange 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  121 

and  fascinating  and  new.  We  entered  the  quaint 
little  old  stone  cottage  that  was  for  six  years  our 
home.  How  curious  it  seemed,  with  its  low, 
whitewashed  ceiling  and  deep  window-seats,  show- 
ing the  great  thickness  of  the  walls  made  to  with- 
stand the  breakers,  with  whose  force  we  soon  grew 
acquainted  !  A  blissful  home  the  little  house  be- 
came to  the  children  who  entered  it  that  quiet 
evening  and  slept  for  the  first  time  lulled  by  the 
murmur  of  the  encircling  sea.  I  do  not  think  a 
happier  triad  ever  existed  than  we  were,  living 
in  that  profound  isolation.  It  takes  so  little 
to  make  a  healthy  child  happy ;  and  we  never 
wearied  of  our  few  resources.  True,  the  winters 
seemed  as  long  as  a  whole  year  to  our  little  minds, 
but  they  were  pleasant,  nevertheless.  Into  the 
deep  window-seats  we  climbed,  and  with  pennies 
(for  which  we  had  no  other  use)  made  round  holes 
in  the  thick  frost,  breathing  on  them  till  they 
were  warm,  and  peeped  out  at  the  bright,  fierce, 
windy  weather,  watching  the  vessels  scudding 
over  the  intensely  dark  blue  sea,  all  "  feather- 
white  "  where  the  short  waves  broke  hissing  in  the 
cold,  and  the  sea-fowl  soaring  aloft  or  tossing  on 
the  water ;  or,  in  calmer  days,  we  saw  how  the 
stealthy  Star-Islander  paddled  among  the  led^jfes, 
or  lay  for  hours  stretched  on  the  wet  sea-weed, 
6 


122  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

with  his  gun,  watching  for  wild-fowl.  Sometimes 
the  round  head  of  a  seal  moved  about  among  the 
kelp-covered  rocks.  A  few  are  seen  every  winter, 
and  are  occasionally  shot ;  but  they  are  shyer  and 
more  alert  even  than  the  birds. 

We  were  forced  to  lay  in  stores  of  all  sorts  in 
the  autumn,  as  if  we  were  fitting  out  a  ship  for  an 
Arctic  expedition.  The  lower  story  of  the  light- 
house was  hung  with  mutton  and  beef,  and  the 
store-room  packed  with  provisions. 

In  the  long,  covered  walk  that  bridged  the 
gorge  between  the  lighthouse  and  the  house,  we 
played  in  stormy  days ;  and  every  evening  it  was 
a  fresh  excitement  to  watch  the  lighting  of  the 
lamps,  and  think  how  far  the  lighthouse  sent  its 
rays,  and  how  many  hearts  it  gladdened  with  as- 
surance of  safety.  As  I  grew  older  I  was  allowed 
to  kindle  the  lamps  sometimes  myself.  That  was 
indeed  a  pleasure.  So  little  a  creature  as  I  might 
do  that  much  for  the  great  world  !  But  by  the 
fireside  our  best  pleasure  lay,  —  with  plants  and 
singing  birds  and  books  and  playthings  and  lov- 
ing care  and  kindness  the  cold  and  stormy  season 
wore  itself  at  last  away,  and  died  into  the  summer 
calm.  We  hardly  saw  a  human  face  beside  our 
own  all  winter;  but  with  the  spring  came  mani- 
fold   life    to    our   lonely   dwelling,  — human    life 


AMONG  THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  123 

among  other  forms.  Our  neighbors  from  Star 
rowed  across;  the  pilot -boat  from  Portsmouth 
steered  over,  and  brought  us  letters,  newspapers, 
magazines,  and  told  us  the  news  of  months.  The 
faint  echoes  from  the  far-off  world  hardly  touched 
us  little  ones.  We  listened  to  the  talk  of  our 
elders.  "  Winfield  Scott  and  Santa  Anna  ! "  "  The 
war  in  Mexico  !  "  "  The  famine  in  Ireland  !  "  It 
all  meant  nothing  to  us.  We  heard  the  reading 
aloud  of  details  of  the  famine,  and  saw  tears  in 
the  eyes  of  the  reader,  and  were  vaguely  sorry ; 
but  the  fate  of  Red  Riding-Hood  was  much  more 
near  and  dreadfid  to  us.  We  waited  for  the 
spring  with  an  eager  longing ;  the  advent  of  the 
growing  grass,  the  birds  and  flowers  and  insect 
life,  the  soft  skies  and  softer  winds,  the  everlast- 
ing beauty  of  the  thousand  tender  tints  that 
clothed  the  world,  —  these  things  brought  us  un- 
speakable bliss.  To  the  heart  of  Nature  one 
must  needs  be  drawn  in  such  a  life ;  and  very  soon 
I  learned  how  richly  she  repays  in  deep  refresh- 
ment the  reverent  love  of  her  worshipper.  With 
the  first  warm  days  we  built  our  little  mountains 
of  wet  gravel  on  the  beach,  and  danced  after  the 
sandpipers  at  the  edge  of  the  foam,  shouted  to 
the  gossiping  kittiwakes  that  fluttered  above,  or 
watched  the  pranks  of  the  burgomaster  guU,  or 


124  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

cried  to  the  crying  loons.  The  gannet's  long, 
white  wings  stretched  overhead,  perhaps,  or  the 
dusky  shag  made  a  sudden  shadow  in  mid-air,  oi 
we  startled  on  some  lonely  ledge  the  great  blue 
heron  that  flew  off,  trailing  legs  and  wings,  stork- 
like, against  the  clouds.  Or,  in  the  sunshine  on 
the  bare  rocks,  we  cut  from  the  broad,  brown 
leaves  of  the  slippery,  varnished  kelps,  grotesque 
shapes  of  man  and  bird  and  beast  that  withered 
in  the  wind  and  blew  away ;  or  we  fashioned  rude 
boats  from  bits  of  driftwood,  manned  them  with 
a  weird  crew  of  kelpies,  and  set  them  adrift  on  the 
great  deep,  to  float  we  cared  not  whither. 

We  played  with  the  empty  limpet-shells  ;  they 
were  mottled  gray  and  brown,  like  the  song-spar- 
row's breast.  We  launched  fleets  of  purple  mus- 
sel-shells on  the  still  pools  in  the  rocks,  left  by 
the  tide,  —  pools  that  were  like  bits  of  fallen 
rainbow  with  the  wealth  of  the  sea,  with  tints  of 
delicate  sea-weeds,  crimson  and  green  and  ruddy 
brown  and  violet ;  where  wandered  the  pearly  eolis 
with  rosy  spines  and  fairy  horns ;  and  the  large, 
round  sea-urchins,  like  a  boss  upon  a  shield, 
were  fastened  here  and  there  on  the  rock  at 
the  bottom,  putting  out  from  their  gi'een,  prickly 
spikes  transparent  tentacles  to  seek  their  invisible 
food.     Rosy  and  lilac  star-fish  clung  to  the  sides ; 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SEGALS.  125 

in  some  dark  nook,  perhaps,  a  holothure  unfolded 
its  perfect  ferns,  a  lovely,  warm  buff  color,  delicate 
as  frost-work ;  little  forests  of  coralline  moss  grew 
up  in  stillness,  gold-colored  shells  crept  about,  and 
now  and  then  flashed  the  silver-darting  fins  of 
slender  minnows.  The  dimmest  recesses  were 
haunts  of  sea-anemones  that  opened  wide  their 
starry  flowers  to  the  flowing  tide,  or  drew  them- 
selves together,  and  hung  in  large,  half-transparent 
drops,  like  clusters  of  some  strange,  amber-colored 
fruit,  along  the  crevices  as  the  water  ebbed  away. 
Sometimes  we  were  cruel  enough  to  capture  a 
female  lobster  hiding  in  a  deep  cleft,  with  her 
millions  of  mottled  eggs;  or  we  laughed  to  see 
the  hermit-crabs  challenge  each  other,  and  come 
out  and  fight  a  deadly  battle  till  the  stronger 
overcame,  and,  turning  the  weaker  topsy-turvy,  pos- 
sessed himself  of  his  ampler  cockle-shell,  and  scut- 
tled off  with  it  triumphant.  Or,  pulling  all  to- 
gether, we  dragged  up  the  long  kelps,  or  devil's- 
aprons ;  their  roots  were  almost  always  fastened 
about  large,  living  mussels ;  these  we  unclasped, 
canying  the  mussels  home  to  be  cooked ;  fried  in 
crumbs  or  batter,  they  were  as  good  as  oysters. 
We  picked  out  from  the  kelp-roots  a  kind  of  star- 
fish which  we  called  sea-spider ;  the  moment  we 
touched  it  an  extraordinary  process  began.     One 


126  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

by  one  it  disjointed  all  its  sections,  —  whether 
from  fear  or  anger  we  knew  not ;  but  it  threw  it- 
self away,  bit  by  bit,  until  nothing  was  left  of  it 
save  the  little,  round  body  whence  the  legs  had 
sprung ! 

With  crab  and  limpet,  with  grasshopper  and 
cricket,  we  were  friends  and  neighbors,  and  we 
were  never  tired  of  watching  the  land-spiders  that 
possessed  the  place.  Their  webs  covered  every 
window-pane  to  the  lighthouse  top,  and  they  re- 
built them  as  fast  as  they  were  swept  down.  One 
variety  lived  among  the  round  gray  stones  on  the 
beach,  just  above  high-water  mark,  and  spun  no 
webs  at  all.  Large  and  black,  they  speckled  the 
light  stones,  swarming  in  the  hot  sun  ;  at  the  first 
footfall  they  vanished  beneath  the  pebbles. 

All  the  cracks  in  the  rocks  were  draped  with 

swinging  veils  like  the  window-panes.     How  often 

have  we  marvelled  at  them,  after  a  fog  or  a  heavy 

fall  of  dew,   in  the  early  morning,  when   every 

slender  thread  was  strung  with  glittering  drops,  — 

the  whole  symmetrical  web  a  wonder  of  shining 

jewels    trembling   in    the    breeze !      Tennyson's 

lines, 

"  The  cobweb  woven  across  the  cannon's  throat 
Shall  shake  its  threaded  tears  in  the  wind  no  more,'* 

always  bring  back  to  my  mind  the  memory  of 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  127 

those  delicate,  spangled  draperies,  more  beautiful 
than  any  mortal  loom  could  weave,  that  curtained 
the  rocks  at  White  Island  and  "  shook  their 
threaded  tears  "  in  every  wind. 

Sometimes  we  saw  the  bats  wheel  through  the 
summer  dusk,  and  in  profoundly  silent  evenings 
heard,  from  the  lighthouse  top,  their  shrill,  small 
cries,  their  voices  sharper  and  finer  than  needle- 
points. One  day  I  found  one  clinging  to  the  un- 
der side  of  a  shutter,  —  a  soft,  dun-colored,  downy 
lump.  I  took  it  in  my  hand,  and  in  an  instant  it 
changed  to  a  hideous  little  demon,  and  its  fierce 
white  teeth  met  in  the  palm  of  my  hand.  So 
much  fury  in  so  small  a  beast  I  never  encountered, 
and  I  was  glad  enough  to  give  him  his  liberty 
without  more  ado. 

A  kind  of  sandhopper  about  an  inch  long,  that 
infested  the  beach,  was  a  great  source  of  amuse- 
ment. Lifting  the  stranded  sea-weed  that  marked 
the  high-water  line,  we  always  startled  a  gray  and 
brown  cloud  of  them  from  beneath  it,  leaping 
away,  like  tiny  kangaroos,  out  of  sight.  In 
storms  these  were  driven  into  the  house,  forcing 
their  way  through  every  crack  and  cranny  till  they 
strewed  the  floors,  —  the  sea  so  encircled  us  !  Dy- 
ing immediately  upon  leaving  the  water  from 
which  they  fled,  they  turned  from  a  clear  brown, 


128  AMONG   TEE  ISLES    OF  SHOALS. 

or  what  Mr.  Kingsley  would  call  a  "pellucid 
gray,"  to  bright  brick-color,  like  a  boiled  lobster, 
and  many  a  time  I  have  swept  them  up  in  ruddy 
heaps ;  they  looked  like  bits  of  coral. 

I  remember  in  the  spring  kneeling  on  the 
ground  to  seek  the  first  blades  of  grass  that 
pricked  through  the  soil,  and  bringing  them  into 
the  house  to  study  and  wonder  over.  Better  than 
a  shop  full  of  toys  they  were  to  me  !  Whence 
came  their  color  ]  How  did  they  draw  their 
sweet,  refreshing  tint  from  the  brown  earth,  or  the 
limpid  air,  or  the  white  light*?  Chemistry  was 
not  at  hand  to  answer  me,  and  all  her  wisdom 
would  not  have  dispelled  the  wonder.  Later  the 
little  scarlet  pimpernel  charmed  me.  It  seemed 
more  than  a  flower  ;  it  was  like  a  human  thing.  I 
knew  it  by  its  homely  name  of  poor-man's  weather- 
glass. It  was  so  much  wiser  than  I,  for,  when  the 
sky  was  yet  without  a  cloud,  softly  it  clasped  its 
small  red  petals  together,  folding  its  golden  heart 
in  safety  from  the  shower  that  was  sure  to  come  ! 
How  could  it  know  so  much  ]  Here  is  a  question 
science  cannot  answer.  The  pimpernel  grows 
everywhere  about  the  islands,  in  every  cleft  and 
cranny  where  a  suspicion  of  sustenance  for  its 
slender  root  can  lodge  ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  most 
exquisite  of  flowers,  so  rich  in  color,  so  quaint  and 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  129 

dainty  in  its  method  of  growth.  I  never  knew 
its  silent  warning  fail.  I  wondered  much  how 
every  flower  knew  what  to  do  and  to  be  ;  why  the 
morning-glory  didn't  forget  sometimes,  and  bear 
a  cluster  of  elder-bloom,  or  the  elder  hang  out 
pennons  of  gold  and  purple  like  the  iris,  or  the 
golden-rod  suddenly  blaze  out  a  scarlet  plume,  the 
color  of  the  pimpernel,  was  a  mysteiy  to  my 
childish  thought.  And  why  did  the  sweet  wild 
primrose  wait  till  after  sunset  to  unclose  its  pale 
yellow  buds ;  why  did  it  unlock  its  treasure  of 
rich  perfume  to  the  night  alone?  Few  flowers 
bloomed  for  me  upon  the  lonesome  rock;  but  I 
made  the  most  of  all  I  had,  and  neither  knew  of 
nor  desired  more.  Ah,  how  beautiful  they  were  ! 
Tiny  stars  of  crimson  sorrel  threaded  on  their 
long  brown  stems ;  the  blackberry  blossoms  in 
bridal  white ;  the  surprise  of  the  blue-eyed  grass  ; 
the  crowfoot  flowers,  like  drops  of  yellow  gold 
spilt  about  among  the  short  grass  and  over  the 
moss ;  the  rich,  blue-pm'ple  beach-pea,  the  sweet, 
spiked  germander,  and  the  homely,  delightful  yar- 
row that  grows  thickly  on  all  the  islands.  Some- 
times its  broad  clusters  of  dull  white  bloom  are 
stained  a  lovely  reddish-purple,  as  if  with  the 
light  of  sunset.  I  never  saw  it  colored  so  else- 
where. Quantities  of  slender,  wide-spreading 
6*  I 


130  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

mustard-bushes  grew  about  the  house  ;  their  deli- 
cate flowers  were  like  fragrant  golden  clouds. 
Dandelions,  buttercups,  and  clover  were  not  de- 
nied to  us ;  though  we  had  no  daisies  nor  violets 
nor  wild  roses,  no  asters,  but  gorgeous  spikes  of 
golden-rod,  and  wonderful  wild  morning-glories, 
whose  long,  pale,  ivory  buds  I  used  to  find  in  the 
twilight,  glimmering  among  the  dark  leaves,  wait- 
ing for  the  touch  of  dawn  to  unfold  and  become 
each  an  exquisite  incarnate  blush,  —  the  perfect 
color  of  a  South  Sea  shell.  They  ran  wild,  knot- 
ting and  twisting  about  the  rocks,  and  smothering 
the  loose  boulders  in  the  gorges  with  lush  green 
leaves  and  pink  blossoms. 

Many  a  summer  morning  have  I  crept  out  of 
the  still  house  before  any  one  was  awake,  and, 
wrapping  myself  closely  from  the  chill  wind  of 
dawn,  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  high  cliff  called 
the  Head  to  watch  the  sunrise.  Pale  grew  the 
lighthouse  flame  before  the  broadening  day  as, 
nestled  in  a  crevice  at  the  cliff''s  edge,  I  watched 
the  shadows  draw  away  and  morning  break.  Fac- 
ing the  east  and  south,  with  all  the  Atlantic  before 
me,  what  happiness  was  mine  as  the  deepening  rose- 
color  flushed  the  delicate  cloudflocks  that  dappled 
the  sky,  where  the  gulls  soared,  rosy  too,  while  the 
calm  sea  blushed  beneath.     Or  perhaps  it  was  a 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  131 

cloudless  sunrise  with  a  sky  of  orange-red,  and  the 
sea-line  silver-blue  against  it,  peaceful  as  heaven. 
Infinite  variety  of  beauty  always  awaited  me,  and 
filled  me  with  an  absorbing,  unreasoning  joy  such 
as  makes  the  song-sparrow  sing,  —  a  sense  of  per- 
fect bliss.  Coming  back  in  the  sunshine,  the  morn- 
ing-glories would  lift  up  their  faces,  all  awake,  to 
my  adoring  gaze.  Like  countless  rosy  trumpets 
sometimes  I  thought  they  were,  tossed  everywhere 
about  the  rocks,  turned  up  to  the  sky,  or  droop- 
ing toward  the  ground,  or  looking  east,  west, 
north,  south,  in  silent  loveliness.  It  seemed  as 
if  they  had  gathered  the  peace  of  the  golden  morn^t 
ing  in  their  still  depths  even  as  my  heart  had 
gathered  it. 

In  some  of  those  matchless  summer  mornings 
when  I  went  out  to  milk  the  little  dun  cow,  it  was 
hardly  possible  to  go  farther  than  the  doorstep, 
for  pure  wonder,  as  I  looked  abroad  at  the  sea 
lying  still,  like  a  vast,  round  mirror,  the  tide  drawn 
away  from  the  rich  brown  rocks,  a  sail  or  two 
asleep  in  the  calm,  not  a  sound  abroad  except  a 
few  bird  voices;  dew  lying  like  jewel-dust  sifted 
over  everything,  —  diamond  and  ruby,  sapphire, 
topaz,  and  amethyst,  flashing  out  of  the  emer- 
ald deeps  of  the  tufted  grass  or  from  the  bend- 
ing tops.     Looking  over  to  the  mainland,  I  could 


132  AMONG   TEE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS. 

dimly  discern  in  the  level  sunshine  the  depths  of 
glowing  green  woods  faintly  revealed  in  the  dis- 
tance, fold  beyond  fold  of  hill  and  valley  thickly 
clothed  with  the  summer's  splendor.  But  my 
handful  of  grass  was  more  precious  to  me  than 
miles  of  green  fields,  and  I  was  led  to  consider 
every  blade  where  there  were  so  few.  Not  long 
ago  I  had  watched  them  piercing  the  ground  toward 
the  light ;  now,  how  strong  in  their  slender  gi^ace 
were  these  stems,  how  perfect  the  poise  of  the 
heavy  heads  that  waved  with  such  harmony  of 
movement  in  the  faintest  breeze  !  And  I  noticed 
at  mid-day  when  the  dew  was  dry,  where  the  tall, 
blossoming  spears  stood  in  graceful  companies 
that,  before  they  grew  purple,  brown,  and  ripe, 
when  they  began  to  blossom,  they  put  out  first  a 
downy  ring  of  pollen  in  tiny,  yellow  rays,  held  by 
an  almost  invisible  thread,  which  stood  out  like  an 
aureole  from  each  slow-waving  head,  —  a  fairy-like 
effect.  On  Seavey's  Island  (united  to  ours  by  a 
narrow  beach  covered  at  high  tide  with  contending 
waves)  grew  one  single  root  of  fern,  the  only  one 
within  the  circle  of  my  little  world.  It  was  safe 
in  a  deep  cleft,  but  I  was  in  perpetual  anxiety  lest 
my  little  cow,  going  there  daily  to  pasture,  should 
leave  her  cropping  of  the  grass  and  eat  it  up  some 
day.     Poor  little  cow  !     One  night  she  did  not 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  133 

come  home  to  be  milked  as  usual,  and  on  going  to 
seek  her  we  found  she  had  caught  one  foot  in  a 
crevice  and  twisted  her  hoof  entirely  off!  That 
was  a  calamity  ;  for  we  were  forced  to  summon  our 
neighbors  and  have  her  killed  on  the  spot. 

I  had  a  scrap  of  garden,  literally  not  more  than 
a  yard  square,  wherein  grew  only  African  mari- 
golds, rich  in  color  as  barbaric  gold.  I  knew  noth- 
ing of  John  Keats  at  that  time,  —  poor  Keats, 
"  who  told  Severn  that  he  thought  his  intensest- 
pleasure  in  life  had  been  to  watch  the  growth  of 
flowers,"  —  but  I  am  sure  he  never  felt  their  beauty 
more  devoutly  than  the  little,  half-savage  being 
who  knelt,  like  a  fire-worshipper,  to  watch  the  un- 
folding of  those  golden  disks.  When,  later,  the 
*'  brave  new  world "  of  poets  was  opened  to  me, 
with  what  power  those  glowing  lines  of  his  went 
straight  to  my  heart, 

"  Open  afresh  your  rounds  of  starry  folds, 
Ye  ardent  marigolds  1  " 

All  flowers  had  for  me  such  human  interest,  they 
were  so  dear  and  precious,  I  hardly  liked  to  gather 
them,  and  when  they  were  withered,  I  carried  them 
all  to  one  place  and  laid  them  tenderly  together, 
and  never  liked  to  pass  the  spot  where  they  were 
hidden. 

Once  or  twice  every  year  came  the  black,  liun- 


134  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

bering  old  "oil-schooner"  that  brought  supplies 
for  the  lighthouse,  and  the  inspector,  who  gravely 
examined  everything,  to  see  if  all  was  in  order. 
He  left  stacks  of  clear  red  and  white  glass  chim- 
neys for  the  lamps,  and  several  doe-skins  for  polish- 
ing the  great,  silver-lined  copper  reflectors,  large 
bundles  of  wicks,  and  various  pairs  of  scissors  for 
trimming  them,  heavy  black  casks  of  ill-perfumed 
whale-oil,  and  other  things,  which  were  all  stowed  in 
the  round,  dimly-lighted  rooms  of  the  tower.  Very 
awe-struck,  we  children  always  crept  into  corners, 
and  whispered  and  watched  the  intruders  till  they 
embarked  in  their  ancient,  clumsy  vessel,  and, 
hoisting  their  dark,  weather-stained  sails,  bore 
slowly  away  again.  About  ten  j^ears  ago  that  old 
white  lighthouse  was  taken  away,  and  a  new,  per- 
pendicular brick  tower  built  in  its  place.  The 
lantern,  with  its  fifteen  lamps,  ten  golden  and  five 
red,  gave  place  to  Fresnel's  powerful  single  burner, 
or,  rather,  three  burners  in  one,  enclosed  in  its  case 
of  prisms.  The  old  lighthouse  was  by  far  the  most 
picturesque  ;  but  perhaps  the  new  one  is  more  effec- 
tive, the  light  being,  undoubtedly,  more  powerful. 

Often,  in  pleasant  days,  the  head  of  the  family 
sailed  away  to  visit  the  other  islands,  sometimes 
taking  the  children  with  him,  oftener  going  alone, 
frequently  not  returning  till  after  dark.     The  land- 


AMONG   TEE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  135 

ing  at  White  Island  is  so  dangerous  that  the  gi-eat- 
est  care  is  requisite,  if  there  is  any  sea  running,  to 
get  ashore  in  safety.     Two  long  and  very  solid  tim- 
bers about  three  feet  apart  are  laid  from  the  boat- 
house  to  low-water  mark,  and  between  those  tim- 
bers the  boat's  bow  must  be  accurately  steered ;  if 
she  goes  to  the  right  or  the  left,  woe  to  her  crew 
unless  the  sea  is  calm  !     Safely  lodged  in  the  slip, 
as  it  is  called,  she  is  drawn  up  into  the  boat-house 
by  a  capstan,  and  fastened  securely.     The  light- 
house gave  no  ray  to  the  dark  rock  below  it ;  send- 
ing its  beams  far  out  to  sea,  it  left  us  at  its  foot  in 
greater  darkness  for  its  lofty  light.     So  when  the 
boat  was  out  late,  in  soft,  moonless  summer  nights, 
I  used  to  light  a  lantern,  and,  going  down  to  the 
water's  edge,  take  my  station  between  the  timbers 
of  the  slip,  and,  with  the  lantern  at  my  feet,  sit 
waiting  in  the  darkness,  quite  content,  knowing 
my  little  star  was  watched  for,  and  that  the  safety 
of  the  boat  depended  in  a  great  measiu-e  upon  it. 
How   sweet   the  summer  wind  blew,  how   softly 
plashed  the  water  round  me,  how  refreshing  was 
the  odor  of  the  sparkling  brine  !    High  above,  the 
lighthouse  rays  streamed  out  into  the  humid  dark, 
and  the  cottage  windows  were  ruddy  from  the  glow 
within.     I   felt   so   much   a   part   of  the    Lord's 
\iniverse,  I  was  no  more  afraid  of  the  dark  than  the 


136  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

waves  or  winds ;  but  I  was  glad  to  hear  at  last  the 
creaking  of  the  mast  and  the  rattling  of  the  row- 
locks as  the  boat  approached ;  and,  while  yet  she 
was  far  off,  the  lighthouse  touched  her  one  large 
sail  into  sight,  so  that  I  knew  she  was  uearing  me, 
and  shouted,  listening  for  the  reply  that  came  so 
blithely  back  to  me  over  the  water. 

Unafraid,  too,  we  watched  the  summer  tempests, 
and  listened  to  the  deep,  melodious  thunder  roll- 
ing away  over  the  rain-calmed  ocean.  The  light- 
ning played  over  the  iron  rods  that  ran  from  the 
lighthouse-top  down  into  the  sea.  Where  it  lay  on 
the  shai'p  ridgepole  of  the  long,  covered  walk  that 
spanned  the  gorge,  the  strange  fire  ran  up  the 
spikes  that  were  set  at  equal  distances,  and  burnt 
like  pale  flame  from  their  tips.  It  was  fine  indeed 
from  the  lighthouse  itself  to  watch  the  storm  come 
rushing  over  the  sea  and  ingulf  us  in  our  help- 
lessness. How  the  rain  weltered  down  over  the 
great  panes  of  plate  glass,  —  floods  of  sweet,  fresh 
water  that  poured  off  the  rocks  and  mingled  with 
the  bitter  brine.  I  wondered  why  the  fresh  floods 
never  made  the  salt  sea  any  sweeter.  Those  pale 
flames  that  we  beheld  burning  from  the  spikes  of 
the  lightning-rod,  I  suppose  were  identical  with  the 
St.  Elmo's  fire  that  I  have  since  seen  described  as 
haunting  the  spars  of  ships   in   thunder-storms. 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  137 

And  here  I  am  reminded  of  a  story  told  by  some 
gentlemen  visiting  Appledore  sixteen  or  eighteen 
years  ago.  They  started  from  Portsmouth  for  the 
Shoals  in  a  whaleboat,  one  evening  in  summer, 
with  a  native  Star-Islander,  Richard  Randall  by 
name,  to  manage  the  boat.  They  had  sailed  about 
half  the  distance,  when  they  were  surprised  at 
seeing  a  large  ball  of  fire,  like  a  rising  moon,  roll- 
ins:  toward  them  over  the  sea  from  the  south. 
They  watched  it  eagerly  as  it  bore  down  upon 
them,  and,  veering  off,  went  east  of  them  at  some 
little  distance,  and  then  passed  astern,  and  there, 
of  course,  they  expected  to  lose  sight  of  it ;  but 
while  they  were  marvelling  and  speculating,  it 
altered  its  course,  and  suddenly  began  to  near 
them,  coming  back  upon  its  track  against  the 
wind  and  steadily  following  in  their  wake.  This 
was  too  much  for  the  native  Shoaler.  He  took 
off  his  jacket  and  turned  it  inside  out  to  exorcise 
the  fiend,  and  lo,  the  apparition  most  certainly 
disappeared  !  We  heard  the  excited  account  of 
the  strange  gentlemen  and  witnessed  the  holy  hor- 
ror of  the  boatman  on  the  occa^sion ;  but  no  one 
could  imagine  what  had  set  the  globe  of  fire  roll- 
ing across  the  sea.  Some  one  suggested  that  it 
might  be  an  exhalation,  a  phosphorescent  light, 
from  the  decaying  body  of  some  dead  fish ;  but  in 


138  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

that  case  it  must  have  been  taken  in  tow  by  some 
living  finny  creature,  else  how  could  it  have  sailed 
straight  "into  the  teeth  of  the  wind"?  It  was 
never  satisfactorily  accounted  for,  and  must  remain 
a  mystery. 

One  autumn  at  White  Island  our  little  boat  had 
been  to  Portsmouth  for  provisions,  etc.  With  the 
spy-glass  we  watched  her  returning,  beating  against 
the  head  wind.  The  day  was  bright,  but  there 
had  been  a  storm  at  sea,  and  the  breakers  rolled 
and  roared  about  us.  The  process  of  "  beating " 
is  so  tedious  that,  though  the  boat  had  started  in 
the  morning,  the  sun  was  sending  long  yellow  light 
from  the  west  before  it  reached  the  island.  There 
was  no  cessation  in  those  resistless  billows  that 
rolled  from  the  Devil's  Rock  upon  the  slip ;  but 
still  the  little  craft  sailed  on,  striving  to  reach 
the  landing.  The  hand  at  the  tiller  was  firm,  but 
a  huge  wave  swept  suddenly  in,  swerving  the  boat 
to  the  left  of  the  slip,  and  in  a  moment  she  was 
overturned  and  flung  upon  the  rocks,  and  her  only 
occupant  tossed  high  upon  the  beach,  safe  except 
for  a  few  bruises ;  but  what  a  moment  of  teiTor  it 
was  for  us  all,  who  saw  and  could  not  save  !  All 
the  freight  was  lost  except  a  roll  of  iron  wire  and 
a  barrel  of  walnuts.  These  were  spread  on  the 
floor  of  an  unoccupied  eastern  chamber  in  the  cot- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  139 

tage  to  dry.  And  they  did  dry ;  but  before  they 
were  gathered  up  came  a  terrible  storm  from  the 
southeast.  It  raved  and  tore  at  lighthouse  and 
cottage ;  the  sea  broke  into  the  windows  of  that 
eastern  chamber  where  the  walnuts  lay,  and  washed 
them  out  till  they  came  dancing  down  the  stair? 
in  briny  foam  !  The  sea  broke  the  windows  of  the 
house  several  times  during  our  stay  at  the  light- 
house. Everything  shook  so  violently  from  the 
concussion  of  the  breakers,  that  dishes  on  the 
closet  shelves  fell  to  the  floor,  and  one  member  of 
the  family  was  at  first  always  made  sea-sick  in 
storms,  by  the  tremor  and  deafening  confusion. 
One  night  when,  from  the  southeast,  the  very  soul 
of  chaos  seemed  to  have  been  let  loose  upon  the 
world,  the  whole  ponderous  "  walk  "  (the  covered 
bridge  that  connected  the  house  and  lighthouse) 
was  carried  thundering  down  the  gorge  and  dragged 
out  into  the  raging  sea. 

It  was  a  distressing  situation  for  us,  —  cut  off 
from  the  precious  light  that  must  be  kept  alive ; 
for  the  breakers  were  tearing  through  the  gorge 
so  that  no  living  thing  could  climb  across.  But 
the  tide  could  not  resist  the  mighty  impulse 
that  drew  it  down ;  it  was  forced  to  obey  the  stiU 
voice  that  bade  it  ebb ;  all  swollen  and  raging  and 
towering  as  it  was,  slowly  and  surely,  at  the  ap- 


140  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

pointed  time,  it  sank  away  from  our  rock,  so  that, 
between  the  billows  that  still  strove  to  clutch  at 
the  white,  silent,  golden-crowned  tower,  one  could 
creep  across,  and  scale  the  height,  and  wind  up 
the  machinery  that  kept  the  gTeat  clustered  light 
revolving  till  the  gray  daylight  broke  to  extin- 
guish it. 

I  often  wondered  how  it  was  possible  for  the  sea- 
birds  to  live  through  such  storms  as  these.  But, 
when  one  could  see  at  all,  the  gulls  were  always 
soaring,  in  the  wildest  tumult,  and  the  stormy 
petrels  half  flying,  half  swimming  in  the  hollows 
of  the  waves. 

Would  it  were  possible  to  describe  the  beauty 
of  the  calm  that  followed  such  tempests !  The 
long  lines  of  silver  foam  that  streaked  the  tranquil 
blue,  the  "  tender-curving  lines  of  creamy  spray  " 
along  the  shore,  the  clear-washed  sky,  the  peace- 
ful yellow  light,  the  mellow  breakers  murmuring 
slumberously ! 

Of  all  the  storms  our  childish  eyes  watched 
w^ith  delighted  awe,  one  thunder-storm  remains 
fixed  in  my  memory.  Late  in  an  August  after- 
noon it  rolled  its  awful  clouds  to  the  zenith,  and, 
after  the  tumult  had  subsided,  spread  its  lightened 
vapors  in  an  under-roof  of  gray  over  all  the  sky. 
Presently  this  solemn  gray  lid  was  lifted  at  its 


AMONG   TEE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  141 

western  edge,  and  an  insufferable  splendor  streamed 
across  the  world  from  the  sinking  sun.  The 
whole  heaven  was  in  a  blaze  of  scarlet,  across 
which  sprang  a  rainbow  unbroken  to  the  topmost 
clouds,  "  with  its  seven  perfect  colors  chorded  in  a 
triumph "  against  the  flaming  background ;  the 
sea  answered  the  sky's  rich  blush,  and  the  gray 
rocks  lay  drowned  in  melancholy  purple.  I  hid 
my  face  from  the  glory,  —  it  was  too  much  to 
bear.  Ever  I  longed  to  sj^eak  these  things  that 
made  life  so  sweet,  to  speak  the  wind,  the  cloud, 
the  bird's  flight,  the  sea's  murmur.  A  vain  long- 
ing !  I  might  as  well  have  sighed  for  the  mighty 
pencil  of  Michael  Angelo  to  wield  in  my  impotent 
child's  hand.  Better  to  "hush  and  bless  one's 
self  with  silence  " ;  but  ever  the  wish  grew.  Fa- 
cing the  July  sunsets,  deep  red  and  golden  through 
and  through,  or  watching  the  summer  northern 
lights,  —  battalions  of  brilliant  streamers  advan- 
cing and  retreating,  shooting  upward  to  the  zenith, 
and  glowing  like  fiery  veils  before  the  stars;  or 
when  the  fog-bow  spanned  the  silver  mist  of 
morning,  or  the  earth  and  sea  lay  shimmering  in  a 
golden  haze  of  noon ;  in  storm  or  calm,  by  day  or 
night,  the  manifold  aspects  of  Nature  held  me 
and  swayed  all  my  thoughts  until  it  was  impos- 
sible to  be  silent  any  longer,  and  I  was  fain  to 


142  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

mingle  my  voice  with  her  myriad  voices,  only  as- 
piring to  be  in  accord  with  the  Infinite  harmony, 
however  feeble  and  broken  the  notes  might  be. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  witness  but  few 
wrecks  at  the  Shoals.  The  disasters  of  which  we 
hear  faintly  from  the  past  were  many  and  dread- 
ful ;  but  since  the  building  of  the  lighthouse  on 
White  Island,  and  also  on  Boone  Island  (which 
seems  like  a  neighbor,  though  fifteen  miles  dis- 
tant), the  danger  of  the  place  is  much  lessened. 
A  resident  of  Star  Island  told  me  of  a  wreck  which 
took  place  forty-seven  years  ago,  during  a  heavy 
storm  from  the  eastward.  It  blew  so  that  all  the 
doors  in  the  house  opened  as  fast  as  they  shut 
them,  and  in  the  night  a  vessel  drove  against 
''Hog  Island  Head,"  which  fronts  the  village  on 
Star.  She  went  to  pieces  utterly.  In  the  morn- 
ing the  islanders  perceived  the  beach  at  Londoners 
heaped  with  some  kind  of  drift;  they  could  not 
make  out  what  it  was,  but,  as  soon  as  the  sea  sub- 
sided, went  to  examine  and  found  a  mass  of 
oranges  and  picture-frames,  with  which  the  vessel 
had  been  freighted.  Not  a  soul  was  saved.  "  She 
struck  with  such  force  that  she  drove  a  large 
spike  out  of  her  forefoot "  into  a  crevice  in  the 
rock,  which  was  plainly  to  be  seen  till  a  few  years 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  143 

ago.  My  informant  also  told  me  that  she  remem- 
bered the  wreck  of  the  Sagunto,  in  1813  ;  that  the 
beaches  were  strewn  with  "almond-nuts  "  long  after} 
and  that  she  picked  up  curiously  embroidered  vests 
and  "  work-bags  "  in  all  directions  along  the  shores. 
During  a  storm  in  1839,  while  living  at  White 
Island,  we  were  startled  by  the  heavy  booming  of 
guns  through  the  roar  of  the  tempest,  —  a  sound 
that  drew  nearer  and  nearer,  till  at  last,  through  a 
sudden  break  in  the  mist  and  spray,  we  saw  the 
heavily  rolling  hull  of  a  large  vessel  driving  by,  to 
her  sure  destruction,  toward  the  coast.  It  was  as 
if  the  wind  had  torn  the  vapor  apart  on  purpose 
to  show  us  this  piteous  sight ;  and  I  well  remem- 
ber the  hand  on  my  shoulder  which  held  me  firmly, 
shuddering  child  that  I  was,  and  forced  me  to  look 
in  spite  of  myself.  What  a  day  of  pain  it  was ! 
how  dreadful  the  sound  of  those  signal-guns,  and 
how  much  more  dreadful  the  certainty,  when  they 
ceased,  that  all  was  over  !  We  learned  afterward 
that  it  was  the  brig  Pocahontas,  homeward  bound 
from  Spain,  and  that  the  vessel  and  all  her  crew 
were  lost.  In  later  years  a  few  coasters  and  fish- 
ermen have  gone  ashore  at  the  islands,  generally 
upon  the  hidden  ledges  at  Duck.  Many  of  these 
have  been  loaded  with  lime,  —  a  most  perilous 
freight ;  for  as  soon  as  the  water  touches  it  there  is 


144  AMONG   THE  ISLES    OF  SHOALS. 

a  double  danger ;  and  between  fire  and  water  there 
is  little  chance  of  escape. 

I  wish  I  could  recall  the  graphic  language  of  a 
Star  Islander  who  described  to  me  a  wreck  of  this 
kind.  The  islanders  saw  at  sunrise,  one  bitter 
winter  day,  a  schooner  ashore  among  the  dreadful 
ledges  at  Duck  Island,  and,  though  the  wind  blew 
half  a  gale,  they  took  their  boats  and  ran  down 
toward  her  before  the  northwester.  Smoke  and 
steam  and  spray  and  flame  were  rising  from  her 
and  about  her  when  they  reached  the  spot.  Only 
one  man  was  found  alive.  From  the  davits,  hang- 
ing head  downward,  was  the  lifeless  body  of  a 
fair-haired  boy  of  sixteen  or  thereabouts.  The 
breakers  swept  him  to  and  fro,  and,  drawing  away, 
left  his  long  yellow  hair  dripping  with  the  freezing 
brine.  The  mate's  story  was  that  he  had  gone 
to  unfasten  the  boat  which  hung  at  the  stern,  that 
a  sea  had  struck  him,  and  he  had  fallen  headfore- 
most with  his  feet  entangled  in  the  ropes  of  the 
davits.  He  was  the  only  son  of  his  mother,  who 
was  a  widow.  They  carried  his  body  home  to  that 
most  unhappy  mother.  The  vessel  was  a  total 
loss,  with  all  on  board,  except  the  mate. 

One  winter  night  at  Appledore  when  it  was 
blowing  very  hard  northwest,  with  a  clear  sky, 
we  were  wakened  by  a  violent  knocking  at  the 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  145 

door.  So  unaccustomed  a  sound,  at  that  time  of 
night  too,  was  enough  to  startle  us  all,  and  very 
much  amazed  we  were.  The  door  was  opened  to 
admit  four  or  five  shipwrecked  men,  whose  hands, 
feet,  and  ears  were  all  frozen  stiff,  —  pitiable  ob- 
jects they  were  indeed.  Their  vessel  had  struck 
full  on  York  Ledge,  a  rock  lying  off  the  coast 
of  Maine  far  east  of  us,  and  they  had  taken  to 
the  boat  and  strove  to  make  a  landing  on  the 
coast ;  but  the  wind  blew  off  shore  so  fiercely 
they  failed  in  their  attempt,  their  hands  became 
useless  from  the  cold,  they  dropped  their  oars,  and, 
half  steering  with  one  of  the  seats  of  the  boat, 
managed  to  reach  Appledore,  more  dead  than 
alive.  They  were  obliged  to  remain  there  several 
days  before  finding  an  opportunity  of  going  on 
shore,  the  gale  was  so  furious.  Next  morning,  in  the 
glare  of  the  winter  sunshine,  we  saw  their  vessel, 
still  with  all  sail  set,  standing  upright  upon  the 
ledge,  —  a  white  column  looming  far  away.  One 
of  the  most  hideous  experiences  I  have  heard  be- 
fell a  young  Norwegian  now  living  at  the  Shoals. 
He  and  a  young  companion  came  out  from  Ports- 
mouth to  set  their  trawl,  in  the  winter  fishing, 
two  years  ago.  Before  they  reached  the  island, 
came  a  sudden  squall  of  wind  and  snow,  chilling 
and  blinding.  In  a  few  moments  they  knew  not 
7  J 


146  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

where  they  were,  and  the  wind  continued  to  sweep 
them  away.  Presently  they  found  themselves 
under  the  lee  of  White  Island  Head ;  they  threw 
out  the  road-lines  of  their  trawl,  in  desperate  hope 
that  they  might  hold  the  boat  till  the  squall 
abated.  The  keepers  at  the  lighthouse  saw  the 
poor  fellows,  but  were  powerless  to  help  them. 
Alas  !  the  road-lines  soon  broke,  and  the  little  boat 
was  swept  off  again,  they  knew  not  whither. 
Night  came  down  upon  them,  tossed  on  that  ter- 
rible black  sea ;  the  snow  ceased,  the  clouds  flew 
before  the  deadly  cold  northwest  wind,  the  ther- 
mometer sank  below  zero.  One  of  the  men  died 
before  morning ;  the  other,  alone  with  the  dead 
man,  was  still  driven  on  and  on  before  the  pitiless 
gale.  He  had  no  cap  nor  mittens  ;  had  lost  both. 
He  bailed  the  boat  incessantly,  for  the  sea  broke 
over  him  the  livelong  time.  He  told  me  the  story 
himself  He  looked  down  at  the  awful  face  of  his 
dead  friend  and  thought  "  how  soon  he  should  be 
like  him  "  ;  but  still  he  never  ceased  bailing,  —  it 
was  all  he  could  do.  Before  night  he  passed  Cape 
Cod  and  knew  it  as  he  rushed  by.  Another  un- 
speakably awful  night,  and  the  gale  abated  no  whit. 
Next  morning  he  was  almost  gone  from  cold,  fa- 
tigue, and  hunger.  His  eyes  were  so  swollen  he 
could  hardly  see  j  but  afar  off,  shining  whiter  than 


AMONG   THE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS.  147 

silver  in  the  sun,  the  sails  of  a  large  schooner  ap- 
peared at  the  edge  of  the  fearful  wilderness.  He 
managed  to  hoist  a  bit  of  old  canvas  on  an  oar. 
He  was  then  not  far  from  Holmes'  Hole,  nearly  two 
hundred  miles  from  the  Shoals  !  The  schooner  saw 
it  and  bore  do^vn  for  him,  but  the  sea  was  running 
so  high  that  he  expected  to  be  swamped  every 
instant.  As  she  swept  past,  they  threw  from  the 
deck  a  rope  with  a  loop  at  the  end,  tied  with  a 
bow-Hne  knot  that  would  not  slip.  It  caught  him 
over  the  head,  and  clutching  it  at  his  throat  with 
both  hands,  in  an  instant  he  found  himself  in  the 
sea  among  the  ice-cold,  furious  waves,  drawn  toward 
the  vessel  with  all  the  strength  of  her  crew.  Just 
before  he  emerged,  he  heard  the  captain  shout, 
"  We  've  lost  him  !  "  Ah  the  bitter  moment ! 
For  a  horrible  fear  struck  through  him  that  they 
might  lose  their  hold  an  instant  on  the  rope^  and 
then  he  knew  it  would  be  all  over.  But  they 
saved  him.  The  boat  with  the  dead  man  in  it,  all 
alone,  went  tossing,  heaven  knows  where. 

The  great  equinoctial  gale  of  September  8,  1869, 
was  very  severe  at  the  islands.  One  schooner  went 
ashore  on  Cannon  Point  at  Appledore,  and  was  a 
complete  wreck,  though  no  lives  were  lost.  She 
was  lying  in  *'  The  Roads,"  between  Star  and  Ap- 
pledore, safely  moored,  her  crew  supposed ;  but  sho 


148  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

dragged  moorings,  anchors,  everything  with  which 
they  strove  to  save  her,  and  crashed  on  the  rocks, 
breaking  up  Hke  an  eggshell.  Various  buildings 
were  blown  down ;  windows  at  Appledore  were 
blown  in,  in  some  cases  sash  and  all,  in  others  the 
glass  was  smashed  as  if  the  wind  had  thrust  an 
arm  through. 

At  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  a  great 
copper-colored  arch  spanned,  the  black  sky  from 
west  to  east.  The  gale  was  then  at  its  height.  After 
that  lurid  bow  dissolved,  flying  northward  in  wild, 
scattered  fragments,  the  wind  abated,  and  we  be- 
gan to  take  breath  again.  A  man  at  Star,  on  the 
edge  of  the  storm,  rowed  out  in  his  dory  to  make 
more  secure  a  larger  boat  moored  at  a  little  dis- 
tance. Down  came  the  hmTicane  and  caught  him, 
and  whirled  him  away  like  a  dead  leaf  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  sea.  He  gave  himself  up  for  lost,  of 
course;  so  did  his  fi'iends.  But  he  fastened  himself 
with  ropes  to  the  inside  of  the  boat,  and,  tossing 
from  billow  to  billow,  bailed  for  dear  life  the  whole 
night  long.  Toward  morning,  the  wind  lulling  very 
considerably,  he  was  carried  along  the  coast  of 
Maine,  and  landed  in  York,  a  short  distance  from 
his  father's  home,  and  quietly  walked  into  the 
house  and  joined  the  family  at  breakfast ;  then 
^•^k  the  cars  for  Portsmouth,  and  astounded  the 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  149 

whole  Shoals  settlement  by  appearing  in  the 
steamer  Appledore  in  time  for  dinner.  Everybody 
supposed  him,  without  a  shadow  of  doubt,  to  be  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Boone  Island  is  the  forlornest  place  that  can  be 
imagined.  The  Isles  of  Shoals,  barren  as  they 
are,  seem  like  Gardens  of  Eden  in  comparison.  I 
chanced  to  hear  last  summer  of  a  person  who  had 
been  bom  and  brought  up  there ;  he  described 
the  loneliness  as  something  absolutely  fearful,  and 
declared  it  had  pursued  him  all  through  his  life. 
He  lived  there  till  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  old, 
when  his  family  moved  to  York.  While  living 
on  the  island  he  discovered  some  human  remains 
which  had  lain  there  thirty  years.  A  carpenter 
and  his  assistants,  having  finished  some  building, 
were  capsized  in  getting  off",  and  all  were  drowned, 
except  the  master.  One  body  floated  to  Plum 
Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Merrimack  ;  the  others 
the  master  secured,  made  a  box  for  them,  -  -  all 
alone  the  while,  —  and  buried  them  in  a  cleft  and 
covered  them  with  stones.  These  stones  the  sea 
washed  away,  and,  thirty  years  after  they  were 
buried,  the  boy  found  the  bones,  which  were  re- 
moved to  York  and  there  buried  again.  It  was 
on  board  a  steamer  bound  to  Bangor,  that  the  man 
told  his  story.     Boone  Island  Light  was  shining 


150  A310NG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

in  the  distance.  He  spoke  with  bitterness  of  his 
life  in  that  terrible  solitude,  and  of  "  the  loneliness 
which  had  pursued  him  ever  since."  All  his  rel- 
atives were  dead,  he  said,  and  he  had  no  human 
tie  in  the  wide  world  except  his  wife.  He  ended 
by  anathematizing  all  islands,  and,  vanishing  into 
the  darkness,  was  not  to  be  found  again ;  nor  did 
his  name  or  any  trace  of  him  transpire,  though 
he  was  sought  for  in  the  morning  all  about  the 
vessel. 

One  of  the  most  shocking  stories  of  shipwreck 
I  remember  to  have  heard  is  that  of  the  Notting- 
ham Galley,  wrecked  on  this  island  in  the  year 
1710.  There  is  a  narrative  of  this  shipwreck  ex- 
isting, written  by  '*  John  Deane,  then  commander 
of  said  Galley,  but  for  many  years  after  his  Majes- 
ty's consul  for  the  ports  of  Flanders,  residing  at 
Ostend,"  printed  in  1762.  The  ship,  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  tons,  carrying  ten  guns,  with  a 
crew  of  fourteen  men,  loaded  partly  in  England  and 
partly  in  Ireland,  and  sailed  for  Boston  on  the  25th 
of  September,  1710.  She  made  land  on  the  11th 
of  December,  and  was  wrecked  on  that  fatal  rock. 
At  first  the  unhappy  crew  "  treated  each  other 
with  kindness  and  condolence,  and  prayed  to  God 
for  relief."  The  only  things  saved  from  the  wreck 
Were  a  bit  of  canvas  and  half  a  cheese.     The  men 


AMONG   THE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS.  151 

made  a  triangular  tent  of  the  bit  of  canvas,  and 
all  lay  close  together  beneath  it,  sideways ;  none 
could  turn  without  the  general  concurrence  :  they 
turned  once  in  two  hours  upon  public  notice. 
They  had  no  fire,  and  lived  upon  kelp  and  rock- 
weed,  and  mussels,  three  a  day  to  a  man.  Star- 
vation and  suffering  soon  produced  a  curious  loss 
of  memory.  The  fourth  day  the  cook  died.  When 
they  had  been  there  upwards  of  a  week,  they  saw 
three  sails  in  the  southwest,  but  no  boat  came 
near  them.  They  built  a  rude  boat  of  such  mate- 
rials as  they  could  gather  from  the  wreck,  but  she 
was  lost  in  launching.  One  of  the  men,  a  Swede, 
is  particularly  mentioned  ;  he  seems  to  have  been 
full  of  energy ;  with  help  from  the  others  he  built 
a  raft ;  in  launching  this  they  overset  it.  Again 
they  saw  a  sail,  this  time  coming  out  from  the 
Piscataqua  River  ;  it  was  soon  out  of  sight.  The 
Swede  was  determined  to  make  an  effort  to  reach 
the  shore,  and  persuaded  another  man  to  make 
the  attempt  with  him.  At  sunset  they  were  seen 
half-way  to  the  land ;  the  raft  was  found  on  shore 
with  the  body  of  one  man  ;  the  Swede  was  never 
seen  more.  A  hide  was  thrown  on  the  rocks  at 
Boone  Island  by  the  sea ;  this  the  poor  sailors  ate 
raw,  minced.  About  the  end  of  December  the 
carpenter  died,  and,  driven  to  madness  by  hunger, 


152  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

they  devoured  the  flesh  of  their  dead  comrade. 
The  captain,  being  the  strongest  of  the  party, 
dragged  the  body  away  and  hid  it,  and  dealt  small 
portions  of  it  daily  to  the  men.  Immediately 
their  dispositions  underwent  a  horrible  change. 
They  became  fierce  and  reckless,  and  were  the  most 
pitiable  objects  of  despair,  when,  on  January  4th, 
1711,  they  were  discovered  and  taken  off.  It  was 
evening  when  they  entered  the  Piscataqua  River, 
and  eight  o'clock  when  they  landed.  Discovering 
a  house  through  the  darkness,  the  master  rushed 
into  it,  frightening  the  gentlewoman  and  children 
desperately,  and,  making  his  way  to  the  kitchen, 
snatched  the  pot  wherein  some  food  was  cooking 
off  the  fire,  and  began  to  eat  voraciously.  This 
old  record  mentions  John  Plaisted  and  John  Went- 
worth  as  being  most  "  forward  in  benevolence  "  to 
these  poor  fellows. 

When  visiting  the  island  for  the  first  time,  a 
few  years  ago,  I  w^as  shown  the  shallow  gorge 
where  the  unfortunates  tried  to  shelter  themselves. 
It  was  the  serenest  of  summer  days ;  everything 
smiled  and  shone  as  I  stood  looking  down  into  that 
rocky  hollow.  Near  by  the  lighthouse  sprang  — 
a  splendid  piece  of  masonry  —  over  a  hundred 
feet  into  the  air,  to  hold  its  warning  aloft.  About 
Its  base  some  gentle  thought  had  caused  morning- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  153 

glories  to  climb  and  unfold  their  violet,  white,  and 
rosy  bells  against  the  smooth,  dark  stone.  I 
thought  I  had  never  seen  flowers  so  beautiful. 
There  was  hardly  a  handful  of  grass  on  the  island, 
hardly  soil  enough  to  hold  a  root ;  therefore  it 
seemed  the  more  wonderful  to  behold  this  lovely 
apparition.  With  my  mind  full  of  the  story  of 
the  Nottingham  Galley,  I  looked  at  the  delicate 
bells,  the  cool  green  leaves,  the  whole  airy  gi'ace 
of  the  wandering  vines,  and  it  was  as  if  a  hand 
were  stretched  out  to  pluck  me  away  from  the 
awful  questions  never  to  be  answered  this  side  the 
grave,  that  pressed  so  heavily  while  I  thought  how 
poor  humanity  had  here  suffered  the  utmost  misery 
that  it  is  possible  to  endiu-e. 

The  aspect  of  this  island  from  the  Shoals  is 
very  striking,  so  lonely  it  lies  on  the  eastern  hori- 
zon, its  tall  lighthouse  like  a  slender  column  against 
the  sky.  It  is  easily  mistaken  for  the  smoke- 
stack of  a  steamer  by  unaccustomed  eyes,  and 
sometimes  the  watcher  most  familiar  with  its  ap- 
pearance can  hardly  distinguish  it  from  the  distant 
white  sails  that  steal  by  it,  to  and  fro.  Sometimes 
it  looms  colossal  in  the  mirage  of  summer ;  in 
winter  it  lies  blurred  and  ghostly  at  the  edge  of 
chilly  sea  and  pallid  sky.  In  the  sad,  strange 
light  of  winter  sunsets,  its  faithful  star  blazes  sud- 
7* 


154  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

denly  from  the  darkening  east,  and  sends  a  friendly 
ray  across  to  its  neighbor  at  the  Shoals,  waiting  as 
it  also  waits,  ice-bound,  storm-swept,  and  solitary, 
for  gentler  days  to  come.  And  "winter's  rains 
and  ruins  "  have  an  end  at  last. 

In  the  latter  part  of  February,  after  ten  day* 
perhaps  of  the  northwester,  bringing  across  to  the 
islands  all  the  chill  of  the  snow-covered  hills  of 
the  continent,  some  happy  evening  it  dies  into  a 
reasonable  breeze,  and,  while  the  sun  sets,  you 
climb  the  snowy  height,  and  sweep  with  your  eyes 
the  whole  circle  of  the  horizon,  with  nothing  to 
impede  the  view.  Ah  !  how  sad  it  looks  in  the 
dying  light !  Star  Island  close  by  with  its  silent 
little  village  and  the  sails  of  belated  fishing-boats 
hurrying  in  over  the  dark  water  to  the  moorings ; 
White  Island  afar  off  "  kindling  its  great  red  star"  ; 
on  every  side  the  long,  bleached  points  of  granite 
stretching  out  into  the  sea,  so  cold  and  bleak ;  the 
line  of  coast,  sad  purple;  and  the  few  schooners 
leaden  and  gray  in  the  distance.  Yet  there  is  a 
hopeful  glow  where  the  sun  went  down,  suggestive 
of  the  spring ;  and  before  the  ruddy  sweetness  of 
the  western  sky  the  melancholy  east  is  flushed 
with  violet,  and  up  into  the  delicious  color  rolls  a 
^adual  moon,  mellow  and  golden  as  in  harvest- 
time,  while  high  above  her  the  great  star  Jupiter 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  155 

begins  to  glitter  clear.     On  such  an  evening  some 
subtle  influence   of  the  coming   spring  steals   to 
the  heart,  and  eyes  that  have  watched  the  winter 
skies  so  patiently  grow  wistful  with  the  thought 
of  summer  days  to  come.     On  shore  in  these  last 
weeks  of  winter  one  becomes   aware,  by  various 
delicate  tokens,  of  the  beautiful  change  at  hand, 
—  by  the  deepening  of  the  golden  willow  wands 
into  a  more  living  color,  and  by  their  silvery  buds, 
which  in  favored  spots  burst  the  brown  sheaths ; 
by  the  reddening  of  bare  maple-trees,  as  if  with 
promise  of  future  crimson  flowers ;  by  the  sweet 
cry  of  the  returning  bluebird ;  by  the  alders  at  the 
river's  edge.     If  the  season  is  mild,  the   catkins 
begin  to  unwind  their  tawny  tresses  in  the  first 
weeks  of  March.     But  here  are  no  trees,  and  no 
bluebirds  come  till  April.     Perhaps  some  day  the 
delightful  clangor  of  the  wild  geese  is  heard,  and 
looking    upward,    lo !     the   long,    floating   ribbon 
streaming   northward  across  the  sky.     What  joy 
they   bring   to   hearts    so   weary   with   waiting ! 
Truly  a  wondrous  content  is  shaken  down  with 
their  wild  clamors  out  of  the  cloudy  heights,  and 
a  courage  and  vigor  lurk  in  these   strong  voices 
that    touch   the   listener   with   something   better 
than  gladness,  while  he  traces  eagerly  the  waver- 
ing lines  that  seek  the  north  with  steady,  measured 
flight. 


156  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

Gradually  the  bitter  winds  abate;  early  in  March 
the  first  flocks  of  crows  aiTive,  and  they  soar  finely 
above  the  coves,  and  perch  on  the  flukes  of 
stranded  anchors  or  the  tops  of  kellock-sticks  that 
lie  about  the  w^ater's  edge.  They  are  most  wel- 
come, for  they  are  never  seen  in  winter;  and 
pleasant  it  is  to  watch  them  beating  their  black, 
ragged  pinions  in  the  blue,  while  the  gulls  swim 
on  beyond  them  serenely,  shining  still  whiter  for 
their  sable  color.  No  other  birds  come  till  about 
the  27th  of  March,  and  then  all  at  once  the  isl- 
ands are  alive  with  song-sparrows,  and  these  sing 
from  morning  till  night  so  beautilully  that  dull 
and  weary  indeed  must  be  the  mortal  vrho  can  re- 
sist the  charm  of  their  fresh  music.  There  is  a 
matchless  sweetness  and  good  cheer  in  this  brave 
bird.  The  nightingale  singing  with  its  breast 
against  a  thorn  may  be  divine ;  yet  would  I  turn 
away  from  its  tender  melody  to  listen  to  the 
fresh,  cheerful,  healthy  song  of  this  dauntless  and 
happy  little  creature.  They  come  in  flocks  to  be 
fed  every  morning  the  whole  summer  long,  tame 
and  charming,  with  their  warm  brown  and  gray 
feathers,  striped  and  freaked  with  wood-color,  and 
little  brown  knots  at  each  pretty  throat !  They 
build  their  nests,  and  remain  till  the  snow  falls ;  fre- 
«[ueutly  they  remain  all  winter;  sometimes  they 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  157 

come  into  the  house  for  shelter  ;  once  one  fluttered 
in  and  entered  the  canaries'  cage  voluntarily,  and 
stayed  there  singing  like  a  voice  from  heaven  all 
winter.  Robins  and  blackbirds  appear  with  the 
sparrows  ;  a  few  blackbirds  build  and  remain ;  the 
robins,  finding  no  trees,  flit  across  to  the  mainland. 
Yellow-birds  and  kingbirds  occasionally  build  here, 
but  very  rarely.  By  the  first  of  April  the  snow  is 
gone,  and  our  bit  of  earth  is  free  from  that  dead 
white  mask.  How  lovely  then  the  gentle  neutral 
tints  of  tawny  intervals  of  dead  grass  and  brown 
bushes  and  varying  stone  appear,  set  in  the  living 
sea !  There  is  hardly  a  square  foot  of  the  bare 
rock  that  is  n  't  precious  for  its  soft  coloring  ;  and 
freshly  beautiful  are  the  uncovered  lichens  that 
with  patient  fingering  have  ornamented  the 
rough  surfaces  with  their  wonderful  embroideries. 
They  flourish  with  the  greatest  vigor  by  the  sea ; 
whole  houses  at  Star  used  to  be  covered  with  the 
orange-colored  variety,  and  I  have  noticed  the 
same  thing  in  the  pretty  fishing  village  of  New- 
castle and  on  some  of  the  old  buildings  by  the 
river-side  in  sleepy  Portsmouth  city.  Through 
April  the  weather  softens  daily,  and  by  the  20th 
come  gi'ay,  quiet  days  with  mild  northeast  wind ; 
in  the  hollows  the  grass  has  greened,  and  now  the 
f^entle  color  seems  to  brim  over  and  spread  out 


J58  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

upon  the  ground  in  faint  and  fainter  gradations. 
A  refreshing  odor  springs  from  the  moist  earth, 
from  the  short,  sweet  turf  which  the  cattle  crop  so 
gladly,  —  a  musky  fragi^ance  unlike  that  of  inland 
pastm'es ;  and  with  this  is  mingled  the  pure  sea- 
breeze,  —  a  most  reviving  combination.  The  turfy 
gorges,  boulder-strewn  and  still,  remind  one  of 
Alexander  Smith's  descriptions  of  his  summer  in 
Skye,  of  those  quiet,  lonely  glens,  — just  such  a 
grassy  carpet  was  spread  in  their  hollows.  By  the 
23d  of  April  come  the  first  swallow  and  flocks  of 
martins,  golden-winged  and  downy  woodpeckers, 
the  tiny,  ruby-crowned  wren,  and  troops  of  many 
other  kinds  of  birds;  kingfishers  that  perch  on 
stranded  kellocks,  little  nuthatches  that  peck 
among  the  shingles  for  hidden  spiders,  and  glad- 
den the  morning  with  sweet,  quaint  cries,  so  busy 
and  bright  and  friendly  !  All  these  tarry  only 
awhile  in  their  passage  to  the  mainland. 

But  though  the  birds  come  and  the  sky  has  re- 
lented and  grown  tender  with  its  melting  clouds, 
the  weather  in  New  England  has  a  fashion  of 
leaping  back  into  midwinter  in  the  space  of  an 
hour,  and  all  at  once  comes  half  a  hurricane  from 
the  northwest,  charged  with  the  breath  of  all  the 
remaining  snow-heaps  on  the  far  mountain 
ranges,  —  a   "white-sea  roarin*  wind"  that  takes 


AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  159 

you  back  to  January.  In  the  afternoon,  through 
the  cold,  transparent  heaven,  a  pale  half- moon 
glides  slowly  over;  there  is  a  splendor  of  wild 
clouds  at  sunset,  dusk  heaps  with  scarlet  fringes, 
scattered  flecks  of  flame  in  a  clear  crimson  air 
above  the  fallen  sun;  then  cold  moonlight  over 
the  black  sea,  with  the  flash  and  gleam  of  white 
waves  the  whole  night  long. 

But  the  potent  spmt  of  the  spring  triumphs  at 
last.  When  the  sun  in  its  journey  north  passes  a 
certain  group  of  lofty  pine-trees  standing  out  dis- 
tinctly against  the  sky  on  Breakfast  Hill  in  Green- 
land, New  Hampshire,  which  lies  midway  in  the 
coast  line,  then  the  Shoalers  are  happy  in  the 
conviction  that  there  will  be  "  settled  weather  "  ; 
and  they  put  no  trust  in  any  relenting  of  the 
elements  before  that  time.  After  this  there  soon 
come  days  when  to  be  alive  is  quite  enough  joy, — 
days  when  it  is  bliss  only  to  watch  and  feel  how 

"  God  renews 
His  ancient  rapture,"  — 

days  when  the  sea  lies,  colored  like  a  turquoise, 
blue  and  still,  and  from  the  south  a  band  of  warm, 
gray-purple  haze  steals  down  on  the  horizon  like 
an  encircling  arm  about  the  happy  world.  The 
lightest  film  encroaches  upon  the  sea,  only  made 
perceptible  by  the  shimmering  of  far-off"  sails.     A 


160  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

kind  of  bloom,  inexpressibly  lovely,  softens  over 
the  white  canvas  of  nearer  vessels,  like  a  delicate 
veil.  There  is  a  fascination  in  the  motion  of 
these  slender  schooners,  a  wondrous  grace,  as  they 
glide  before  a  gentle  wind,  slowly  bowing,  bending, 
turning,  with  curving  canvas  just  filled  with  the 
breeze,  and  shadows  falling  soft  from  sail  to  sail. 
They  are  all  so  picturesque,  so  suggestive,  from 
the  small,  tanned  spritsail  some  young  islander 
spreads  to  flit  to  and  fro  among  the  rocks  and 
ledges,  to  the  stately  column  of  canvas  that  bears 
the  great  ship  round  the  world.  The  variety  of 
their  aspects  is  endless  and  ever  beautiful,  whether 
you  watch  them  from  the  lighthouse-top,  dream- 
ing afar  on  the  horizon,  or  at  the  water's  edge  j 
whether  they  are  drowned  in  the  flood  of  sun- 
shine on  the  waves,  or  glide  darkly  through  the 
track  of  the  moonlight,  or  fly  toward  you  full  of 
promise,  wing  and  wing,  like  some  magnificent 
bird,  or  steal  away  reddening  in  the  sunset  as  if  to 

"  Sink  with  all  you  love  below  the  verge." 
I  know  nothing  sadder  than  their  aspect  in  the 
light  of  the  winter  sunsets,  as  they  vanish  in 
the  cold  east,  blushing  for  a  fleeting  moment, 
Sweetly,  faintly,  under  the  last  touch  of  the  drop- 
ping day.  To  a  child's  imagination  they  are  all 
foil  of  charm   and   of    mystery,   freighted  with 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  161 

heavenly  dreams.  "  The  thoughts  of  youth  are 
long,  long  thoughts,"  and  the  watching  of  the 
sails  filled  the  lonely,  lovely  summer  days  of  one 
young  Shoaler  with  joy  enough  and  to  spare. 
How  many  pictures  linger  in  my  mind,  —  splendid, 
stately  apparitions  of  full-rigged,  slender  schoon- 
ers, passing  very  near  early  in  the  breezy  mornings 
of  spring,  every  inch  of  canvas  in  a  blaze  of  white 
light,  and  the  whole  vessel  alive  from  keel  to  top- 
mast. And  well  I  remember  on  soft  May  evenings 
how  they  came  dropping  down  from  Cape  Ann, 
while  the  sunset,  streaming  through  low  bars  of 
cloud,  just  touched  them  with  pale  gold,  and  made 
them  half  luminous  and  altogether  lovely ;  and 
how  the  fog  clung  in  silver  strips  to  the  dark, 
wet  sails  of  vessels  lying  becalmed  when  all  the 
air  about  was  clear  and  free  from  mist ;  how  the 
mackerel  fleet  surrounded  the  islands,  five  hun- 
dred craft  sometimes  between  the  islands  and  the 
coast,  so  that  one  might  almost  walk  on  shore 
from  deck  to  deck.  It  was  wonderful  to  wake  on 
some  midsummer  morning  and  find  the  sea  gray- 
green,  like  translucent  chrysoprase,  and  the  some- 
what stormy  sunrise  painting  the  sails  bright 
flame-color  as  they  flew  before  the  warm,  wild  wind 
that  blew  strongly  from  the  south.  At  night, 
sometimes,  in  a  glory  of  moonlight,  a  vessel  passed 


162  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

close  in  with  all  sail  set,  and  only  just  air  enough 
to  fill  the  canvas,  enough  murmur  from  the  full 
tide  to  drown  the  sound  of  her  movement,  —  a 
beautiful  ghost  stealing  softly  by,  and  passing  in 
mysterious  light  beyond  the  glimmering  headland 
out  of  sight.  Here  was  suggestion  enough  for 
a  night  full  of  visions !  Then  the  scudding  of 
sails  before  a  storm,  —  how  they  came  rushing 
in  from  the  far,  dim  sea-line,  racing  by  to  Ports- 
mouth Harbor,  close-reefed,  or  under  darkened 
mainsail  and  jib  only,  leaping  over  the  long  swell, 
and  plunging  their  sharp  bowsprits  into  a  cloud 
of  snowy  spray  at  every  leap !  Then  when  the 
storm  had  spent  itself,  how  beautiful  to  see  them 
stealing  tranquilly  forth  from  the  river's  mouth, 
flocking  seaward  again,  shining  white  in  the  peace- 
ful morning  sunshine !  Watching  them  in  all 
their  endless  variety,  coming  and  going,  di-eaming, 
drifting,  or  flying,  many  a  time  these  quaint  old 
rhymes  occurred  to  me  :  — 

"  Ships,  ships,  I  will  descrie  you 

Amidst  the  main, 
I  will  come  and  try  you 
What  you  are  protecting. 
And  projecting, 

What 's  your  end  and  aim? 
Some  go  abroad  for  merchandise  and  trading, 
Another  stays  to  keep  his  country  from  invading, 
A  third  is  coming  home  with  rich  and  wealthy  lading. 

Halloo !  my  fancie,  whither  wilt  thou  go?  " 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  163 

As  the  winter  is  doubly  hard,  so  are  the  gentler 
seasons  doubly  sweet  and  delightful,  when  one  is 
shut  out  with  them,  as  it  were,  and  forced  to  ob- 
serve all  their  changes  and  peculiarities,  with  so 
few  human  interests  to  interrupt  one's  intercourse 
with  nature.  The  rainy  days  in  May  at  the  Isles 
of  Shoals  have  seemed  to  me  more  lovely  than  the 
sunshine  in  Paradise  could  be,  so  charming  it  was 
to  walk  in  the  warm  showers  over  our  island,  and 
note  all  the  mosses  and  lichens  drenched  and 
bright  with  the  moisture,  thick,  sweet  buds  on  the 
baybeny  bushes,  rich  green  leaves  unfolding  here 
and  there  among  the  tangled  vines,  and  bright 
anemones  growing  up  between.  The  lovely  eye- 
bright  glimmers  everywhere.  The  rain,  if  it  con- 
tinues for  several  days,  bleaches  the  sea-weed  about 
the  shores  to  a  lighter  and  more  golden  brown, 
the  sea  is  gray,  and  the  sky  lowers ;  but  all  these 
neutral  tints  are  gentle  and  refreshing.  The 
coasters  rock  lazily  on  the  long  swell  toward  Cape 
Ann,  dim  through  low-hanging  clouds  ;  clearly  the 
sandpipers  call,  and  always  the  song-sparrows 
freshly  surprise  you  with  their  outburst  of  cheer- 
ful music.  In  the  last  weeks  of  May  comes  a 
period  of  balmy  days,  with  a  gentle,  incessant 
southwest  wind,  the  sea  a  wonderful  gray-blue, 
with  the  faint,  impalpable  haze  lying  over  sails,  isl' 


164  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

ands,  sea,  and  coast.  A  brooding  warmth  is  every- 
where. The  sky  is  cloudless,  but  opaque,  —  a 
kind  of  milky  effect  in  the  atmosphere,  through 
which  the  sun  is  seen  as  through  smoked  glass, 
and  long  before  it  sets  one  can  bear  to  look  at  the 
crimson  ball  slow  sinking  in  the  rich,  red  west; 
and  the  moon  is  like  copper,  throwing  no  light  on 
the  water.  The  islanders  call  this  a  "  smoky 
sou'wester."  Now  come  delicious  twilights,  with 
silence  broken  only  by  mysterious  murmurs  from 
the  waves,  and  sweet,  full  cries  from  the  sand- 
pipers fluttering  about  their  nests  on  the  margin 
of  the  beaches,  —  tender,  happy  r>otes  that  thrill 
the  balmy  air,  and  echo  softly  about  the  silent, 
moonlit  coves.  Sails  in  this  twilight  atmosphere 
gather  the  dusk  within  their  folds ;  if  the  warm 
wind  is  blowing  softly,  there  is  enchantment  in 
the  sound  of  the  lazily-flapping  canvas  and  in  the 
long  creak  of  the  mast.  A  human  voice  borne 
through  this  breathing  wind  comes  like  a  waft  of 
music  faintly  heard  across  the  water.  The  morn- 
ings now  are  exquisite,  the  delicate  flush  of  the 
sunrise  through  this  beautiful  haze  is  indescribable. 
The  island  is  indeed  like 

"  A  precious  stone  set  in  the  silver  sea," 

'^  freshly  green,  so  flower-strewn  and  fragrant,  so 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  165 

musical  with  birds,  and  with  the  continual  caress- 
ing of ,  summer  waves.  Now  and  then  a  bobolink 
pays  us  a  flying  visit,  and,  tilting  on  a  blackberry- 
spray,  pours  out  his  intoxicating  song;  some 
morning  is  heard  the  fairy  bugling  of  an  oriole ; 
a  scarlet  tanager  honors  the  place  with  half  a  day's 
sojourn,  to  be  the  wonder  of  all  eyes;  but  com- 
monly the  swallows  hold  it  in  undisputed  posses- 
sion. The  air  is  woven  through  and  through  with 
the  gleam  of  their  burnished  wings  and  their  clear^ 
happy  cries.  They  are  so  tame,  knowing  how 
well  they  are  beloved,  that  they  gather  on  the 
window-sills,  twittering  and  fluttering,  gay  and 
graceful,  turning  their  heads  this  way  and  that, 
eying  you  askance  without  a  trace  of  fear.  All 
day  they  build  their  nests  about  the  eaves,  nor 
heed  how  loving  eyes  do  watch  their  charming 
toil.  Walking  abroad  in  these  pleasant  evenings, 
many  a  little  sparrow's  nest  one  finds  low  down  in 
the  bayberry-bushes,  —  smooth,  brown  cups  of  wo- 
ven grass,  wherein  lie  the  five  speckled  eggs,  each 
full  of  silent  music,  each  dumb  miracle  waiting  for 
the  finger  of  God  to  wake,  to  be  alive,  to  drink  the 
sunshine  and  the  breeze,  to  fill  the  air  with  bliss- 
ful sound.  At  the  water's  edge  one  finds  the 
long  ledges  covered  with  barnacles,  and  from  each 
rough  shell  a  tiny,  brown,  filmy  hand  is  thrust  out, 


166  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

opening  and  shutting  in  gladness  beneath  the 
coming  tide,  feeling  the  freshness  of  the  flowing 
■water.  The  shore  teems  with  life  in  manifold 
forms.  As  the  darkness  gathers,  the  ripples  begin 
to  break  in  pale  flame  against  the  rocks ;  if  the 
tide  is  low  enough,  it  is  charming  to  steal  down 
in  the  shadow,  and,  drawing  aside  the  curtain  of 
coarse  sea-weed  that  drapes  the  face  of  some 
smooth  rock,  to  write  on  the  surface  beneath : 
the  strange  fire  follows  your  finger ;  and  there  is 
your  name  in  weird  flame,  all  alive,  quivering  and 
trembling,  and  finally  fading  and  disappearing. 
In  a  still  pool  you  drop  a  stone  or  touch  the 
water  with  your  hand  :  instantly  a  thousand  stars 
break  out  and  burn  and  vanish  in  a  moment !  It 
used  to  be  a  pleasant  thing  to  bring  a  piece  of 
drift-wood,  water-soaked,  and  shaggy  with  fine  sea- 
weed, up  from  the  shore,  and  from  some  dark 
corner  suddenly  sweep  my  hand  across  it  :  a  sheet 
of  white  flame  followed,  startling  the  beholder. 

June  is  of  course  the  most  delightful  month 
here,  everything  is  yet  so  fresh  ;  later  the  hot 
sun  dries  and  scorches  the  thin  soil,  and  par- 
tially destroys  the  little  vegetation  which  finds 
room  upon  the  island.  But  through  this  month 
the  ground  is  beautiful  with  starry,  purple  stone- 
wort  ;  like  little  suns  the  blossoms  of  the  lion's- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  167 

foot  shine  in  the  thinnest  of  the  soil ;  herb-robert 
blossoms ;  the  slender  arenaria  steals  up  among 
the  bushes,  lifting  a  little  white  flower  to  the 
sun ;  here  and  there  the  sorrel  lies  in  crimson 
stains ;  in  wet  places  sturdy  clumps  of  fern 
unroll  their  golden  green  with  splendid  vigor  of 
growth ;  sundew  and  partridge-berry  creep  at 
their  feet ;  and  fi'om  the  swamp  the  rushes  rise  in 
ranks,  like  a  faint,  green  vapor,  slowly,  day  by  day. 
The  few  wild-cherry  bushes  have  each  its  inevi^ 
table  caterpillars'  nest ;  one  can  but  wonder  how 
caterpillars  and  canker-worms  find  their  way  across 
the  water.  The  presence  of  green  snakes  on  these 
rocks  may  be  explained  by  their  having  been  found 
coiled  on  a  piece  of  drift-wood  many  miles  out  at 
sea.  Bees  find  their  way  out  from  the  land  in 
companies,  seeking  the  white  clover-blossoms  that 
rise  in  cool,  creamy,  fragrant  globes  through  the 
dark  leaves  and  grass.  The  clover  here  is  pecul- 
iarly rich.  Many  varieties  of  butterflies  abound, 
the  handsome  moth  of  the  American  silkworm 
among  them.  One  night  in  June,  at  sunset,  we 
were  kindling  the  lamps  in  the  lighthouse,  and 
because  it  was  so  mild  and  still  outside,  the  little 
iron  door  of  the  lantern  was  left  open.  No  breeze 
came  in  to  stir  the  flame  that  quivered  in  the 
centre   of  each   shining   reflector,   but   presently 


168  AMONG    THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

glided  through  the  door  the  pale-green,  exquisite 
Luna  moth,  with  its  wonderful  crescents,  its  lines 
of  velvet  brown,  and  long  under  wings  drawn  out 
like  the  tail  of  a  swallow.  It  sailed  slowly  round 
and  round  the  dome  above  the  lamps  at  first,  but 
soon  became  agitated,  and  would  have  dashed  itself 
against  the  flames  but  that  I  caught  it.  What  a 
marvel  it  was  !  I  never  dreamed  of  the  existence 
of  so  beautiful  a  creature.  Titania  herself  could 
not  have  been  more  interesting  to  me. 

In  the  quiet  little  coves  troops  of  butterflies  are 
often  seen,  anchored  for  the  night,  clinging  to  the 
thistle-blossoms  to  be  safe  from  assailing  winds. 
Crickets  are  never  heard  here  till  after  the  1st  of 
August.  On  the  mainland  they  begin,  about  the 
28th  of  May,  a  sad  and  gentle  autumnal  undertone, 
which  from  that  time  accompanies  the  jubilant 
chorus  of  summer  in  a  gradual  crescendo,  till 
finally  the  days  pass  on  to  no  other  music  save 
their  sweet,  melancholy  chirrup.  In  August  comes 
the  ruby-throated  humming-bird,  and  several  pairs 
flutter  about  the  little  gardens  for  weeks.  By  the 
1st  of  July  the  wild  roses  blossom,  and  every  bit 
of  swampy  ground  is  alive  with  the  waving  flags 
of  the  iris,  each  flower  of  which  is  full  of  exquisite 
variety  of  tint  and  shade  of  gold  and  violet.  All 
over  the  island  patches  of  it  diversify  the  surface, 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  169 

set  like  amethysts  in  the  rich  greens  and  browns 
of  turf  and  mossy  spaces.  Through  the  tangle  of 
leaves  and  grasses  the  spikes  of  golden-rod  make 
their  way  upward  slowly  day  by  day,  to  be  ready 
at  the  first  beckoning  of  Autumn's  finger  to  light 
their  torches  and  join  the  fair  procession ;  the 
gi'een  hollows  are  filled  with  blossoming  elder, 
white  as  a  lake  of  milk ;  the  pimpernel  is  awake ; 
and  the  heavy,  stout  stalks  of  the  mulleins  uprear 
their  woolly  buds,  that  soon  will  break  into  squares 
of  pallid  gold.  The  world  is  at  high  tide  of  de- 
light. Along  the  coast-line  the  mirage  races  in 
flowing  undulations  of  heat,  changing  the  hill 
ranges  into  a  solid  wall,  to  dissolve  them,  and  again 
reunite  them  into  clusters  of  gigantic  towers  and 
battlements ;  trees,  spires,  chimneys,  lighthouses 
become  roofs  and  minarets  and  domes  of  some 
stately  city  of  the  clouds,  and  these  melt  in  their 
turn,  and  the  whole  coast  shrinks  away  to  the 
merest  line  on  the  horizon  immeasurably  removed. 
Each  of  these  changes,  and  the  various  aspects  of 
their  little  world,  are  of  inestimable  value  to  the 
lonely  children  living  always  in  that  solitude. 
Nothing  is  too  slight  to  be  precious  :  the  flashing 
of  an  oar-blade  in  the  morning  light ;  the  twinkling 
of  a  gull's  wings  afar  ofi^,  like  a  star  in  the  yellow 
sunshine  of  the  drowsy  summer  afternoon ;  the 


170  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

water-spout  waltzing  away  before  the  wild  wind 
that  cleaves  the  sea  from  the  advancing  thunder- 
cloud ;  the  distant  showers  that  march  about  the 
horizon,  trailing  their  dusky  fringes  of  falling  rain 
over  sea  and  land  ;  every  phase  of  the  gi'eat  thun- 
der-storms that  make  glorious  the  weeks  of  July 
and  August,  from  the  first  floating  film  of  cloud 
that  rises  in  the  sky  till  the  scattered  fragments 
of  the  storm  stream  eastward  to  form  a  background 
for  the  rainbow,  —  all  these  things  are  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  dwellers  at  the  Isles  of 
Shoals.  There  is  something  especially  delightful 
in  the  perfumes  which  stream  across  the  sea  after 
showers,  like  a  heavenly  greeting  from  the  land  : 
scents  of  hay  and  of  clover,  spice  of  pine  woods, 
balm  of  flowers  come  floating  over  the  cool  waves 
on  the  wings  of  the  west  wind,  and  touch  one  like 
a  breath  from  Paradise.  Few  sounds  from  the 
shore  reach  the  islands ;  the  booming  of  guns  is 
audible,  and  sometimes,  when  the  wind  is  west,  the 
air  is  pierced  with  distant  car-whistles,  so  very  re- 
mote, however,  that  they  are  hardly  to  be  recog- 
nized except  by  a  practised  ear. 

There  is  a  superstition  among  the  islanders  that 
Philip  Babb,  or  some  evil-minded  descendant  of  his, 
still  haunts  Appledore ;  and  no  consideration  would 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  171 

induce  the  more  timid  to  walk  alone  after  dark 
over  a  certain  shingly  beach  on  that  island,  at  the 
top  of  a  cove  bearing  Babb's  name,  —  for  there  the 
uneasy  spirit  is  oftenest  seen.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  been  so  desperately  wicked  when  alive  that 
there  is  no  rest  for  him  in  his  grave.  His  dress  is 
a  coarse,  striped  butcher's  frock,  with  a  leathei; 
belt,  to  which  is  attached  a  sheath  containing  a 
ghostly  knife,  sharp  and  glittering,  which  it  is  his 
delight  to  brandish  in  the  face  of  terrified  human- 
ity. One  of  the  Shoalers  is  perfectly  certain  that 
he  and  Babb  have  met,  and  he  shudders  with  real 
horror,  recalling  the  meeting.  This  is  his  story. 
It  was  after  sunset  (of  course),  and  he  was  coming 
round  the  corner  of  a  work-shop,  when  he  saw  a 
wild  and  dreadful  figure  advancing  toward  him ; 
his  first  thought  was  that  some  one  wished  to 
make  him  the  victim  of  a  practical  joke,  and  he 
called  out  something  to  the  effect  that  he  "  was  n't 
afraid " ;  but  the  thing  came  near  with  ghastly 
face  and  hollow  eyes,  and,  assuming  a  fiendish 
expression,  took  out  the  knife  from  its  belt  and 
flourished  it  in  the  face  of  the  Shoaler,  who  fled 
to  the  house  and  entered  breathless,  calling  for 
the  person  who  he  supposed  had  tried  to  frighten 
him.  That  person  was  quietly  eating  his  supper ; 
and  when  the  poor  fellow  saw  him  he  was  so  much 


172  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

agitated  that  he  nearly  fainted,  and  his  belief  in 
Babb  was  fixed  more  firmly  than  ever.  One  spring 
night  some  one  was  sitting  on  the  broad  piazza  at 
sunset ;  it  was  calm  and  mild ;  the  sea  murmured 
a  little ;  birds  twittered  softly ;  there  was  hardly  a 
waft  of  wind  in  the  still  atmosphere.  Glancing 
toward  Babb's  Cove,  he  saw  a  figure  slowly  cross- 
ing the  shingle  to  the  path  which  led  to  the  house. 
After  watching  it  a  moment  he  called  to  it,  but 
there  was  no  reply ;  again  he  called,  still  no  an- 
swer ;  but  the  dark  figure  came  slowly  on ;  and 
then  he  reflected  that  he  had  heard  no  step  on  the 
loose  shingle  that  was  wont  to  give  back  every  foot- 
fall, and,  somewhat  puzzled,  he  slowly  descended 
the  steps  of  the  piazza  and  went  to  meet  it.  It 
was  not  so  dark  but  that  he  could  see  the  face  and 
recognize  the  butcher's  frock  and  leather  belt  of 
Babb,  but  he  was  not  prepared  for  the  devilish  ex- 
pression of  malice  in  that  hollow  face,  and,  spite  of 
his  prosaic  turn  of  mind,  he  was  chilled  to  the  mar- 
row at  the  sight.  The  white  stripes  in  the  frock 
gleamed  like  phosphorescent  light,  so  did  the  awful 
eyes.  Again  he  called  aloud,  "Who  are  you? 
What  do  you  want?"  and  still  advanced,  when 
suddenly  the  shape  grew  indistinct,  first  thick  and 
cloudy,  then  thin,  dissolving  quite  away,  and,  much 
amazed,  he  turned  and  went  back  to  the  house,  per- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  173 

plexed  and  thoroughly  dissatisfied.     These  tales  I 
tell  as  they  were  told  to  me.     I  never  saw  Babb, 
nor  ever  could,  I  think.     The  whole  Babb  family 
are  buried  in  the  valley  of  Appledore  where  the 
houses  stand,   and   till  this  year  a  bowling-alley 
stood  upon  the  spot,  and  all  the  balls  rolled  over 
the  bones  of  all  the  Babbs ;  that  may  have  been 
one  reason  why  the  head  of  the  family  was  so  rest- 
less ;  since  the  last  equinoctial  gale  blew  the  build- 
ing down,  perhaps  he  may  rest  more  peacefully. 
Babb's  is,  I  believe,  the  only  real  ghost  that  haunts 
the  islands  ;  though  in  the  loft  at  the  parsonage  on 
Star  (a  mere  creep- hole  under  the  eaves,  unattain- 
able by  any  steps  or  ladder)  there  is,  in  windy 
weather,  the  most  extraordinary  combination  of 
sounds,  as  if  two  bluff  old  fellows  were  swearing  at 
each  other,  gruffly,  harshly,    continually,   with  a 
perseverance  worthy  of  a  better  cause.     Really,  it 
is  a  most  disagreeable  racket !     A  lean,  brown,  hol- 
low-eyed old  woman  from  Star  used  to  tell  how  her 
daughter-in-law  died,  in  a  way  that  took  the  color 
out  of  childish  cheeks  to  hear ;  for  the  dying  woman 
thought  the  ghosts  were  scratching  for  her  out- 
side, against  the  house.     "  '  Ma'y  Hahner '  "  (Mary 
Hannah),    "  she  said   to   me,    a   whisperin',    says 
she,    '  Who 's  that  scratching,  tearing  the  house 
down   underneath   the  window?'     *No,  it  ain't 


174  AMONG  TEE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

nothin'/  says  I ;  *  Ma'y  Hahner,  there  ain't  nobody 
a  tearin'  the  house  down  underneath  the  winder/ 
*  Yes,  yes,  there  is,'  says  she,  '  there  is  !  I  hear 
'em  scratching,  scratching,  tearing  the  house  down 
underneath  the  winder ! '  And  then  I  know'd 
Ma'y  Hahner  was  goin'  to  die,  and  so  she  did  afore 
mornin'." 

There  is  a  superstition  here  and  along  the  coast 
to  this  effect.  A  man  gathering  drift-wood  or 
whatever  it  may  be,  sees  a  spade  stuck  in  the 
ground  as  if  inviting  him  to  dig.  He  is  n't  quite 
ready,  goes  and  empties  his  basket  first,  then 
comes  back  to  investigate,  and  lo  !  there  's  nothing 
there,  and  he  is  tormented  the  rest  of  his  life 
with  the  thought  that  probably  untold  wealth  lay 
beneath  that  spade,  w^hich  he  might  have  possessed 
had  he  only  been  wise  enough  to  seize  the  treasure 
when  it  offered  itself.  A  certain  man  named 
William  Mace,  living  at  Star,  long,  long  ago,  swore 
that  he  had  had  this  experience  ;  and  there 's  a  dim 
tradition  that  another  person,  seeing  the  spade, 
passed  by  about  his  business,  but  hastening  back, 
arrived  just  in  time  to  see  the  last  of  the  sinking 
tool,  and  to  perceive  also  a  golden  flat-iron  disap- 
pearing into  the  earth.  This  he  seized,  but  no 
human  power  could  extricate  it  from  the  ground, 
and  he  was  forced  to  let  go  his  hold  and  see  it  sink 
out  of  his  longing  ken. 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  175 

Some  young  people,  camping  on  the  south  side 
of  Appledore,  one  summer,  among  the  ancient 
graves,  dug  up  a  skeleton  ;  the  bones  crumbled  to 
dust,  but  the  skull  remained  intact,  and  I  kept  it 
for  a  long  time.  The  Shoalers  shook  their  heads. 
"Hog  Island  would  have  no  'luck'  while  that 
skull  remained  above  ground."  It  had  lain  so  long 
in  the  earth  that  it  was  no  more  repulsive  than  a 
bit  of  stone,  yet  a  nameless  dread  invested  it.  At 
last  I  took  it  in  my  hands  and  pored  over  it  till 
the  shudder  passed  away  forever,  and  then  I  was 
never  weary  of  studying  it.  Sitting  by  the  drift- 
wood blaze  late  into  the  still  autumn  nights  alone 
at  my  desk,  it  kept  me  company,  —  a  vase  of  bril- 
liant flowers  on  one  side,  the  skull  on  the  other, 
and  the  shaded  lamp  between,  equally  lighting 
both.  A  curious  head  it  was,  thick  as  an  Ethiop's, 
with  no  space  above  the  eyes,  high  above  the  ears, 
and  heavy  behind  them.  But  0,  those  hollows 
where  the  eyes  once  looked  out,  beholding  the 
same  sea  and  sky  we  see  to-day  !  Those  great, 
melancholy,  empty  hollows,  —  what  sort  of  crea- 
ture gazed  from  them  1  Cunning  and  malice, 
anger  and  hate,  may  have  burned  within  them  in 
sullen  flame  ;  who  shall  say  if  any  beauty  ever 
illumined  them  ?  If  hate  smouldered  here,  did 
love  ever  look  out  and  transfigure  the  poor,  dull 


176  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

face  1  did  any  spark  from  the  far  heaven  evef 
brighten  it  ?  any  touch  of  lofty  thought  or  aspira- 
tion turn  the  clay  to  fire  ?  And  when,  so  many 
years  ago,  this  being  glided  away  from  behind  these 
awful  windows  and  left  them  empty  for  ever  and 
ever,  did  he  find  what  in  his  life  here  he  could  not 
have  possessed,  with  this  head,  which  he  did  not 
make,  and  therefore  was  not  responsible  for  1  Many 
and  many  a  question  I  put  silently  to  the  silent 
casket  which  had  held  a  human  soul ;  there  was 
no  sound  to  answer  me  save  only  the  great,  gentle 
whisper  of  the  sea  without  the  windows,  and  now 
and  then  a  sigh  from  the  autumn  wind.  There 
came  to  me  a  sense  of  the  pathos  of  the  infinite 
patience  of  humanity,  waiting  so  helplessly  and 
blindly  for  the  unravelling  of  the  riddle  that  has 
troubled  every  thoughtful  soul  since  the  beginning 
of  time.  Little  roots  of  plants  were  clasped  about 
the  temples.  Behind  the  right  ear  were  three 
indentations,  as  if  made  by  some  sharp  instrument, 
suggesting  foul  play.  An  Indian  tomahawk  might 
have  made  those  marks,  or  a  pirate's  cutlass :  who 
can  say  1  What  matter  is  it  now  1  I  kept  the 
relic  for  months,  till  it  crumbled  so  fast  when  I 
daily  dusted  it  that  J  feared  it  would  disappear 
entirely ;  so  I  carried  it  quietly  back  and  laid  it 
in  the  grave  from  which  it  had  been  taken,  won- 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  177 

dering,  as  I  drew  the  shallow  earth  over  it,  who 
had  stood  round  about  when  it  was  buried  for  the 
first  time,  centuries  ago ;  what  manner  of  people, 
and  were  they  afraid  or  sorry.  But  there  was  no 
voice  to  answer  me. 

I  have  before  me  a  weird,  romantic  legend  of 
these  islands,  in  a  time-stained,  battered  newspaper 
of  forty  years  ago.  I  regret  that  it  is  too  long 
to  be  given  entire,  for  the  unknown  writer  tells 
his  story  well.  He  came  to  the  Shoals  for  the 
benefit  of  his  failing  health,  and  remained  there 
late  into  the  autumn  of  1826,  "  in  the  family  of 
a  worthy  fisherman."  He  dilates  upon  the  pleas- 
ure he  found  in  the  loneliness  of  the  place,  "  the 
vast  solitude  of  the  sea;  no  one  who  has  not 
known  it  can  imbibe  the  faintest  idea  of  it." 
**  From  the  hour  I  learned  the  truth,"  he  says, 
*'  that  all  which  lives  must  die,  the  thought  of 
dissolution  has  haunted  me ;  —  the  falling  of  a 
leaf,  a  gray  hair,  or  a  faded  cheek,  has  power  to 
chill  me.  But  here  in  the  recesses  of  these  eternal 
rocks,  with  only  a  cloudless  sky  above  and  an 
ocean  before  me,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  have 
I  shaken  off  the  fear  of  death  and  believed  myself 
immortal." 

He  tells  his  strange  story  in  this  way  :  "It  was 
one  of  those  awfully  still  mornings  which  cloud- 


J  78  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

gazers  will  remember  as  characterizing  the  autumn 
mouths.  There  was  not  a  single  vapor-wreath  to 
dim  the  intense  blue  of  the  sky,  or  a  breath  to 
ruffle  the  almost  motionless  repose  of  the  great 
deep  ;  even  the  sunlight  fell  seemingly  with  stiller 
brightness  on  the  surface  of  it."  He  stood  on  a 
low,  long  point  fronting  the  east,  with  the  cliffs 
behind  him,  gazing  out  upon  the  calm,  when  sud- 
denly he  became  aware  of  a  figure  standing  near 
him.  It  was  a  woman  wrapped  closely  in  a  dark 
sea-cloak,  with  a  profusion  of  light  hair  flowing 
loosely  over  her  shoulders.  Fair  as  a  lily  and  as 
still,  she  stood  with  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  far  dis- 
tance, without  a  motion,  without  a  sound.  "  Think- 
ing her  one  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  neighboring 
island  who  was  watching  for  the  return  of  a  fish- 
ing-boat, or  perhaps  a  lover,  I  did  not  immediately 
address  her ;  but  seeing  no  appearance  of  any  ves- 
sel, at  length  accosted  her  with,  'Well,  my 
pretty  maiden,  do  you  see  anything  of  him  1 '  She 
turned  instantly,  and  fixing  on  me  the  largest  and 
most  melancholy  blue  eyes  I  ever  beheld,  said 
quietly,  *  He  will  come  again.' "  Then  she  disap- 
peared round  a  jutting  rock  and  left  him  marvel- 
ling, and  though  he  had  come  to  the  island  (which 
was  evidently  Appledore)  for  a  forenoon's  stroll, 
he  was  desirous  to  get  back  again  to  Star  and  hia 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  179 

own  quarters  after  this  interruption.  Fairly  at 
home  again,  he  was  inchned  to  look  upon  his  ad- 
venture as  a  dream,  a  mere  delusion  arising  from 
his  illness,  but  concluded  to  seek  in  his  surround- 
ings something  to  substantiate,  or  remove  the  idea. 
Finding  nothing,  —  no  woman  on  the  island  resem- 
bling the  one  he  had  met,  —  and  "  hearing  of  no 
circumstance  w^hich  might  corroborate  the  unac- 
countable impression,"  he  resolved  to  go  again  to 
the  same  spot.  This  time  it  blew  half  a  gale  ;  the 
fishermen  in  vain  endeavored  to  dissuade  him.  He 
was  so  intensely  anxious  to  be  assured  of  the 
truth  or  fiction  of  the  impression  of  the  day  be- 
fore, that  he  could  not  refrain,  and  launched  his 
boat,  "  which  sprang  strongly  upon  the  whitened 
waters,"  and,  unfurling  his  one  sail,  he  rounded  a 
point  and  was  soon  safely  sheltered  in  a  small  cove 
on  the  leeward  side  of  the  island,  probably  Babb's 
Cove. 

Then  he  leaped  the  chasms  and  made  his  way  to 
the  scene  of  his  bewilderment.  The  sea  was  roll- 
ing over  the  low  point ;  the  spot  where  he  had 
stood  the  day  before,  "  was  a  chaos  of  tumult,  yet 
even  then  I  could  have  sworn  that  I  heard  with 
the  same  deep  distinctness,  the  quiet  words  of  the 
maiden,  *He  will  come  again,'  and  then  a  low, 
remotely-ringing  laughter.     All  the  latent  super- 


180  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

stition  of  my  nature  rose  up  over  me,  overwhelm- 
ing as  the  waves  upon  the  rocks."  After  that, 
day  after  day,  when  the  weather  would  permit, 
he  visited  the  desolate  place,  to  find  the  golden- 
haired  ghost,  and  often  she  stood  beside  him, 
"silent  as  when  I  first  saw  her,  except  to  say, 
as  then,  *He  will  come  again,'  and  these  words 
came  upon  the  mind  rather  than  upon  the 
ear.  I  was  conscious  of  them  rather  then  heard 
them,  —  it  was  all  like  a  dream,  a  mysterious  in- 
tuition. I  observed  that  the  shells  never  crashed 
beneath  her  footsteps,  nor  did  her  garments  rustle. 
In  the  bright,  awful  calm  of  noon  and  in  the  rush  of 
the  stonn  there  was  the  same  heavy  stillness  over 
her.  When  the  winds  were  so  furious  that  I  could 
scarcely  stand  in  their  sweep,  the  light  hair  lay 
upon  the  forehead  of  the  maiden  without  lifting  a 
fibre.  Her  great  blue  eyeballs  never  moved  in 
their  sockets,  and  always  shone  with  the  same 
fixed,  unearthly  gleam.  The  motion  of  her  per- 
son was  imperceptible ;  I  knew  that  she  was  here, 
and  that  she  was  gone." 

So  sweet  a  ghost  was  hardly  a  salutary  influence 
in  the  life  of  our  invalid.  She  "  held  him  with 
her  glittering  eye  "  till  he  grew  quite  beside  himself. 
This  is  so  good  a  description  I  cannot  choose  but 
quote  it :  "  The  last  time  I  stood  with  her,  was 


|\^  WW','  s 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  181 

just  at  the  evening  of  a  tranquil  day.  It  was  a 
lovely  sunset.  A  few  gold-edged  clouds  crowned 
the  hills  of  the  distant  continent,  and  the  sun  had 
gone  down  behind  them.  The  ocean  lay  blushing 
beneath  the  blushes  of  the  sky,  and  even  the 
ancient  rocks  seemed  smiling  in  the  glance  of  the 
departing  day.  Peace,  deep  peace  was  the  pervad- 
ing power.  The  waters,  lapsing  among  the  caverns, 
spoke  of  it,  and  it  was  visible  in  the  silent  motion 
of  the  small  boats,  which,  loosening  their  white 
sails  in  the  cove  of  Star  Island,  passed  slowly  out, 
one  by  one,  to  the  night-fishing."  In  the  glow 
of  sunset  he  fancied  the  ghost  grew  rosy  and  hu- 
man. In  the  mellow  light  her  cold  eyes  seemed 
to  soften.  But  he  became  suddenly  so  over- 
powered with  terror  that  ''  kneeling  in  shuddering 
fearfulness,  he  swore  never  more  to  look  upon  that 
spot,  and  never  did  again." 

Going  back  to  Star  he  met  his  old  fisherman, 
who  without  noticing  his  agitation,  told  him  quietly 
that  he  knew  where  he  had  been  and  what  he  had 
seen  ;  that  he  himself  had  seen  her,  and  proceeded 
to  furnish  him  with  the  following  facts.  At  the 
time  of  the  first  settlement,  the  islands  were  infest- 
ed by  pirates,  —  the  bold  Captain  Teach,  called 
Blackboard,  being  one  of  the  most  notorious.  One 
of  Teach's  comrades,  a  Captain  Scot,  brought  this 


182  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

lovely  lady  hither.  They  buried  immense  treas- 
ure on  the  islands  ;  that  of  Scot  was  buried  on  an 
island  apart  from  the  rest.  Before  they  departed 
on  a  voyage,  "to  plunder,  slash,  and  slay,"  (in 
which,  by  the  way,  they  were  involved  in  one 
awful  doom  by  the  blowing  up  of  a  powder  maga- 
zine), the  maiden  was  carried  to  the  island  where 
her  pirate  lover's  treasure  was  hidden,  and  made 
to  swear  with  horrible  rites  that  until  his  return, 
if  it  were  not  till  the  day  of  judgment,  she  would 
guard  it  from  the  search  of  all  mortals.  So  there 
she  paces  still,  according  to  our  story-teller. 
Would  I  had  met  this  lily-fair  ghost !  Is  it  she,  I 
wonder,  who  laments  like  a  Banshee  before  the 
tempests,  wailing  through  the  gorges  at  Appledore, 
"  He  will  not  come  again  "  %  Perhaps  it  was  she 
who  frightened  a  merry  party  of  people  at  Duck 
Island,  whither  they  had  betaken  themselves  for  a 
day's  pleasure  a  few  summers  ago.  In  the  centre 
of  the  low  island  stood  a  deserted  shanty  which 
some  strange  fishermen  had  built  there  several 
years  before,  and  left  empty,  tenanted  only  by  the 
mournful  winds.  It  was  blown  down  the  Septem- 
ber following.  It  was  a  rude  hut  with  two  rough 
rooms  and  one  square  window,  or  rather  opening 
for  a  window,  for  sash  or  glass  there  was  none. 
One  of  our  party  proposed  going  to  look  after  the 


AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS.  183 

boats,  as  the  breeze  freshened  and  blew  directly 
upon  the  cove  where  we  had  landed.  We  were 
gathered  on  the  eastern  end  of  the  island  when  he 
returned,  and,  kneeling  on  the  withered  grass  where 
we  were  grouped,  he  said  suddenly,  "  Do  you  know 
what  I  have  seen  1  Coming  back  from  the  boats, 
I  faced  the  fish-house,  and  as  I  neared  it  I  saw 
some  one  watching  me  from  the  window.  Of 
course  I  thought  it  was  one  of  you,  but  when  I 
was  near  enough  to  have  recognized  it,  I  perceived 
it  to  be  the  strange  countenance  of  a  woman,  wan 
as  death  ;  a  face  young,  yet  with  a  look  in  it  of 
infinite  age.  Old  !  it  was  older  than  the  Sphinx 
in  the  desert !  It  looked  as  if  it  had  been  watch- 
ing and  waiting  for  me  since  the  beginning  of 
time.  I  walked  straight  into  the  hut.  There 
was  n't  a  vestige  of  a  human  being  there  ;  it  was 
absolutely  empty. "  AU  the  warmth  and  bright- 
ness of  the  summer  day  could  hardly  prevent  a 
chill  from  creeping  into  our  veins  as  we  listened  to 
this  calmly  delivered  statement,  and  we  actually 
sent  a  boat  back  to  Appledore  for  a  large  yacht  to 
take  us  home,  for  the  wind  rose  fast  and  ''  gurly 
gi^ew  the  sea,"  and  we  half  expected  the  wan 
woman  would  come  and  carry  our  companion  off 
bodily  before  our  eyes. 

Since  writing  these  imperfect  sketches  of  the 


184  AMONG   THE  ISLES   OF  SHOALS. 

Shoals  it  has  become  an  historical  fact  for  the  rec- 
ords of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  that  the  town 
of  Gosport  has  disappeared,  is  obliterated  fi'om  the 
face  of  the  earth,  nearly  all  the  inhabitants  having 
been  bought  out,  that  the  place  might  be  converted 
into  a  summer  resort.  Upon  Appledore  a  large 
house  of  entertainment  has  beeii  extending  its 
capabilities  for  many  years,  and  the  future  of  the 
Shoals  as  a  famous  watering-place  may  be  consid- 
ered certain. 

The  slight  sprinkling  of  inhabitants  yet  remain- 
ing on  Smutty-nose  and  elsewhere,  who  seem 
inclined  to  make  of  the  place  a  permanent  home, 
are  principally  Swedes  and  Norwegians ;  and  a 
fine,  self-respecting  race  they  are,  so  thrifty,  clean- 
ly, well-mannered,  and  generally  excellent  that  one 
can  hardly  say  enough  in  their  praise.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  a  little  rill  fi'om  the  tide  of  emigration 
which  yearly  sets  from  those  countries  toward 
America  may  finally  people  the  unoccupied  por- 
tions of  the  Shoals  with  a  colony  that  will  be  a 
credit  to  New  England. 


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